Industry body to research low cost eco-measures

A two year project to find mass market solutions for improving the energy efficiency of existing homes is underway.

The £3m scheme is looking to identify ways in which the refurbishment and retrofitting of exiting residential properties can be accelerated by industrialising the design, supply and delivery process.

It will include developing a method of analysing the most cost-effective package of measures suitable for a particular property, through to how these will be installed with the minimum disruption to the householder.

The project is being spearheaded by the Energy Technologies Institute, a public private partnership comprising EDF Energy, architects PRP, consultants Total Flow, University College London and contractor Wates. It is funded by the department for Business, Innovation and Skills through the Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Dr David Clarke, ceo of the ETI said 24% of today’s CO2 emissions in the UK are linked to energy use in domestic properties. “Refurbishing these houses with energy efficiency
measures is key to ensuring the delivery of affordable and sustainable energy to domestic and business consumers. Persuading consumers to take-up refurbishment and technology retro-fit opportunities requires us to address the challenge of creating supply-chains and delivery routes which consumers trust and which they consider affordable”.

The government sees retrofitting existing homes as key to achieving its 80% CO2 emissions reduction goal for 2050, with housing the single biggest contributor to the nation’s CO2 emissions.

The majority of today’s 26 million dwellings are expected to still be in use by 2050 and the Department of Energy and Climate Change is proposing that 1.8 million
homes will need to be upgraded ever year by 2020 in order to get the entire housing stock operating more efficiently by 2030 in order to meet these targets. This equates to a city the size of Cambridge each week.