Read the full story from the University of Cambridge.
Insulating the lofts and cavity walls of existing UK housing stock only reduces gas consumption for the first year or two, with all energy savings vanishing by the fourth year after a retrofit, according to research from policy experts at the University of Cambridge.
The latest study is the first to track in detail household gas use across England and Wales for at least five years both before and after insulation installation.
Read the full story from Indiana University.
More than half of all low-income households engaged in coping strategies to reduce their energy bills, according to a study from researchers at the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The coping strategies, such as accruing debt, forgoing expenses on food, and using space heaters or ovens to warm their home, can introduce significant physical and financial risks.
The research could have direct implications for public policy improvements, including modifications to the U.S. Weatherization Assistance Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and state utility disconnection protections.
The article, “Behavioral and financial coping strategies among energy-insecure households,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was written by professor Sanya Carley, Lynton K. Caldwell Professor David Konisky and Ph.D. candidate Trevor Memmott, all in the O’Neill School, and Cleveland State assistant professor Michelle Graff, a former grad student of Carley and Konisky.
Read the full story at Energy News Network.
The state’s Clean Energy Resource Teams, a public-private partnership, has targeted manufactured home communities for energy conservation outreach over the last four years.
Read the full story at Utility Dive.
The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday awarded more than $40 million to 21 organizations and five state agencies to fund energy efficiency projects, prepare thousands of low-income homes for weatherization improvements, and help customers reduce utility costs.
The funds come from DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program, or WAP, which got a $3.2 billion boost in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The investment “addresses a critical gap in federal assistance,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told reporters. Much of the funding will go towards improvements for homes in disrepair, so they can then be eligible for energy efficiency upgrades.
Closing date: 04/06/2021
For more information and to apply
This position will lead an organization which assists in reducing the Nation’s dependence on foreign energy resources, the energy intensity of our economy, and the environmental impact of our industrial processes, while achieving cost-effective product quality enhancements and improving our competitiveness in the global marketplace.
As the “Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Energy Efficiency (EE)” you will:
Read the full story at Fast Company.
The footprint of our built environment needs to shrink. This solution means it could happen faster.
Read the full story at Building Enclosure.
During the winter, especially in colder climates, it can be a challenge to achieve energy efficiency. It takes a combination of intentional design, building envelope maintenance and effective materials to minimize heat loss in commercial buildings.
Fortunately, builders and architects have developed some tried and true techniques to promote energy efficiency in frigid climates. Here are some ideas for accomplishing this timely task.
by Neville Hurst (RMIT University)
Most Australian homes have been built to notoriously poor standards. The energy performance of existing homes in Victoria, for instance, averages 1.8 stars – 6 stars is mandatory for newly built homes under the 10-star Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NaTHERS).
Decision-makers typically fail to appreciate the importance of a low star rating, even though it have profound impacts on households’ health and budgets.
These challenges have come to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic as people spend more time at home. In a home with a low star rating, it can be hard and costly to maintain a comfortable temperature. If it’s too hot or cold occupants’ health can suffer.
Despite these impacts, two new pieces of research reveal it is extremely difficult for house hunters to obtain basic information like energy star ratings in the home rental and ownership markets. The researchers see this issue as systemic.
However, it appears real estate agents are not deliberately withholding information. In a “secret shopper” survey, 91% of the agents didn’t know the energy ratings of homes they sell or lease.
NaTHERS is to be expanded in 2021 to include existing homes. But it won’t be mandatory to measure their energy performance.
When ratings tools are voluntary, experience shows few people use them. In Victoria, for example, homes can be assessed by accredited assessors using the government’s Residential Efficiency Scorecard. Only 3,800 existing homes had been assessed by April 2020, according to state government data provided to me.
In my doctoral research project completed in 2019, titled Residential Agent Engagement with Energy Efficiency when Advertising in Melbourne, I found Melbourne-based real estate agents do not actively promote information about the energy efficiency of properties. This is likely true Australia-wide, as agency practice is much the same across the states.
Agents typically respond to market trends and buyer preferences and their advertising reflects this. Understandably, agents highlight features they consider most likely to appeal to buyers. It’s up to agents to decide if energy performance will help them sell or lease the house.
As well as in-depth interviews with agents, I evaluated over 150,000 house advertisements. While some did refer to energy-efficient technologies, in most such cases these were simply listed, often in the body of the advertisement.
The message was likely to be lost among other details, thus not emphasising the benefits of energy efficiency.
This is partly because energy-efficiency performance reporting isn’t mandatory and the practice isn’t common. Agents have little incentive to develop an understanding of home energy performance and how it contributes to poor housing standards.
Complementing my research, a recent research project supports the suspicion that real estate agents lack knowledge about the energy efficiency features of their properties.
Environment Victoria recruited volunteers to conduct “secret shopper”-style surveys with agents at properties open for inspection across the state. This ensured the data collected closely matched the information available to other house hunters. Volunteers asked four simple questions of 300 agents, including a follow-up question to each “yes” answer to help verify it.
The overwhelming majority of agents were unable to answer any of the four questions. The survey found:
The secret shoppers found agents were even less aware of energy efficiency when letting out houses compared to selling them. This is particularly concerning because Australia’s worst-performing homes, especially in winter, are typically rented, and tenants are usually less able to improve the energy performance.
The research does not suggest any moral failings by estate agents. As my research found, they are “market followers”. Rather, the findings suggest the need to amend the market rules in which agents operate, to ensure more equitable outcomes for house hunters.
Research shows increasing the energy star rating of existing homes to 5.4 stars could reduce heat-related deaths by 90%. Poor home energy performance also contributes to residential greenhouse gas emissions amounting to 19% of Victoria’s total emissions.
Clearly, problems like these flow from estate agents’ poor knowledge of energy efficiency and its impact on the housing market, coupled with buyers’ and renters’ ignorance of the energy ratings of the properties they’re looking at. The problems can only be overcome if state and federal governments work together to make it mandatory to disclose the energy efficiency of housing at point of sale.
Home owners would then be required to provide information to buyers and renters about the energy star rating. House hunters could easily compare the performance of all homes they are interested in.
Such transparency would also provide more options to owners. Mandatory disclosure does influence the housing choices buyers make. Properties with higher energy ratings are often more appealing and fetch higher prices.
Mandatory disclosure is no panacea for improving the poor energy performance of Australian housing, particularly the rental properties that would benefit from minimum standards. However, mandatory disclosure is an essential element of a suite of policies that governments should implement to drive the transition towards net-zero-carbon, healthy homes.
Neville Hurst, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Read the full story from Energy News Network.
While the person-to-person activities are on hold, program administrators are developing self-install instructions.
Originally published on the ILA Connector blog.
Libraries are expensive to operate and there is never enough money to go around. By looking for opportunities to make your building more energy efficient, you can make changes that will continue to save you money for years. These six steps will help you start to improve the energy performance of your building, as well as save money that you can use in other operational areas.
Building remodels or new construction are usually when libraries look at energy efficiency options. Why wait when you can start saving money now?
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