Eco-Refurbishment

Eco-refurbishment – or eco-renovation as it is also called - is really the process of improving your house to high or very high energy standards. This has obvious benefits to households in terms of lower running costs and greater comfort – but also in terms of its contribution to reducing C0² emissions.

The Government’s target is to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. About 30% of the UK’s emissions come from domestic energy use – and the existing housing stock will still provide the vast majority of Britain’s homes by that date. If that target is to be reached, major improvements in energy conservation in our homes are needed.

In very broad terms, the more modern your home the better insulated it is likely to be – but even relatively modern homes can leave a lot to be desired. Insulation of lofts and cavity walls is one of the cheapest and quickest ways to reduce energy bills. WFEG can help you with this – see our Insulation project.

Beyond that there are many other steps that can be taken. Some of these are relatively simple – like putting foil or reflectors behind your radiators. Others are more complicated and expensive, particularly if you have an older home with solid walls, where lining of walls either internally or externally may be necessary to achieve a really effective solution. And then of course there is the range of renewable energy sources.

Over the next few months WFEG will be developing some tools and activities to help people learn more about eco-refurb. This will include an Open Homes event in October – when several homes in the village will open their doors for others to go and see the steps they have taken to ‘econrenovate’. We are also planning to produce an online Directory of resources to help you identify what you can do to make significant improvements to your home.

If you live in the area and have done some ‘eco-refurb’ to your home – and would be willing to show others what you have done please let us know – contact Mike Kinghan on 01543 432238 or by .

In the meantime here are some websites that you may find helpful in finding out what more you can do:

• www.tzero.org.uk - this site is still in a test version (July 09) but still has a great deal of very useful and detailed information about different techniques for eco-refurbishment. It includes a useful tool for assessing the suitability of different approaches for different types of home.
• http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Home-improvements - lots of useful information including estimates of potential savings with different approaches & some supplier information
• www.ecovation.org.uk - has a number of interesting case studies and links to further resources. A bit of a bias towards Oxfordshire where the host organisation
• www.sustainable-energyacademy.org.uk - some good case studies including 3 in the West Midlands