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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.
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 programme can be found at www.s-ea.org.uk.
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