Transforming the energy efficiency of existing houses
NEF is working in partnership with the Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA) to deliver Old Home SuperHome - a programme to transform the energy efficiency of existing housing stock in the UK, with the ultimate aim of reducing domestic carbon emissions by 60%.
We all know that to combat climate change, we need to reduce our global carbon footprint by 60% across the board. For older housing the choice is simple: either we transform our houses or demolish them with all the consequent cost, disruption and loss of amenity. For parts of London , such as Camden with 47%, or in Kensington and Chelsea where 80% of housing was built pre 1919, the consequences would be disastrous.
The scheme is building and promoting a network of exemplar, energy-efficient old dwellings, which will be local and publicly accessible, within 15 minutes of nearly everyone in the country. These homes have been renovated to display huge carbon savings usually by a combination of highly efficient insulation, energy reductions and often the installation of renewable technologies.
By making these exemplars accessible to the public we aim to help homeowners and local authorities to get hands-on knowledge and be inspired to transform their own housing. These are real homes, lived in by real people, though there are a couple of ‘ecohouse' demonstration properties too.
We plan to have 1000 exemplars within 5 years and have already recorded more than 40,000 visitors to homes already on our list.
An award winning programme
The Sustainable Energy Academy working with the National Energy Foundation won the Charity and Community Category at the prestigious 2009 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. The video below was produced by the Ashden Awards to explain how the Old Homes Superhomes project works.
At the 2009 Ashden Awards ceremony, the leading green energy awards scheme presented SEA with a £30,000 cash prize for their Old Homes Superhomes Campaign which will be used to expand and improve the scheme.
The awards were presented to the winners by HRH the Prince of Wales who, in his speech congratulating the Ashden winners, said:
"Meeting the winners has, as always, raised my spirits. The major value of these awards is that they demonstrate what is possible, not only for small scale-scale projects, but what is achievable for the whole world. So much of what we need to build cleaner and more efficient communities is already with us."
On receiving the award John Doggart, SEA Chairman, said "We are delighted to receive this award which celebrates the efforts of so many Superhome owners across the country who have not only dramatically reduced the carbon footprint of their house, but have also opened their doors to the public so that they can learn and also be inspired to take action."
Camden Superhome owner Sarah Harrison, the first person to join the Old Home Superhome project, said: "I've made 82% carbon savings to my Victorian house, and now I've helped hundreds of people renovate their homes through having my home open, something I would never have done without SEA. The great thing is that they organise the publicity and make sure people turn up on the day you have the house open."
More information about the Award is available on the NEF Press Release.
Further information:
SEA is a charity whose aim is to promote education and action to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and communities. More information on the Old Homes Superhomes programme can be found at www.superhomes.org.uk.
