Project Case Studies

Domestic Energy Efficiency Measures: the Householder's Perspective

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In Leicester, the Eco n’Home project linked with a local energy efficiency grant scheme, in order to provide the participating householders with energy efficiency measures. These included loft and cavity wall insulation, draught proofing, condensing boilers, heating controls and low energy light bulbs. Leicester City Council ran the scheme, which provided a grant of 75% of the total cost of the efficiency improvements made. In total 62 householders took part in the grant scheme.

A key part of the Eco n’Home project in Leicester was to look at changes in environmental attitudes and behaviour as well as energy consumption, as a result of the energy efficiency measures. The University of Manchester therefore conducted nine interviews with participants in the grant scheme. All of the interviews were conducted face to face and lasted between forty minutes and an hour. These interviews showed that:

1. The main reason for applying for the scheme was to save money, rather than to improve the energy efficiency of their home. In all but one case, this desire to save money was primarily related to the cost of replacing heating and hot systems, rather than reducing the cost of energy bills.

2. The interviewees were very happy with the administration of the scheme. Any occasional problems with the contractors were resolved effectively and efficiently by the administration team.

3. The scheme was promoted by leafleting the area and by placing notices in the local free newspapers. However, this form of advertising seemed to have had little impact, as six of the nine interviewees that took part in the scheme did so because it was recommended by friends and family. These six respondents could not remember receiving the leaflets or had read them and felt that that the scheme sounded “too good to be true” and therefore must be an attempt to defraud them in someway. In addition, some thought that it wouldn’t apply to them because they were not in receipt of benefits.

4. The interviewees were very happy with all of the major energy efficiency measures taken in their homes. However, the participants were dissatisfied with the energy efficient CFL light bulbs. All of them commented that they either did not use the CFLs, or that they would only use them in particular rooms and/or light fittings. The reasons they gave for this were that they found the light bubs to be unattractively large, not bright enough and they cannot be used with dimmer switches.

5. Four of the nine interviewees said that they had advised friends and/or relatives living in the local area to apply for grants under the scheme and the other five said that they would recommend taking part in similar schemes. On the whole, these attitudes were influenced by personal gains, rather than to reduce energy consumption. Four other interviewees also said that their house is warmer since they had the measures, and would advise other people that schemes of this type were a good idea on these grounds. Other interviewees said that they are pleased with the thermostats fitted to their radiators, because it allows them to vary the temperature of the radiators in different rooms. Three interviewees said they were pleased they took part in the scheme because they would not have been able to afford the improvements made to their home if they had not done so, and “why shouldn’t others also benefit” from similar schemes.

Some lessons learnt:
1. Effective advertising - Both the high level of incentives offered to home owners to improve the energy efficiency of their home, and the way the scheme was promoted contributed to people’s initial disbelief in the legitimacy of the scheme. There are a number of ways in which this problem might be mitigated:
a.) Formal letters from the council personally addressed to householders may be more believable than leaflets.
b.) The incentives offered by the scheme could be reduced allowing more people to benefit from the scheme, as well as reducing the notion that the scheme is fraudulent.
c.) Schemes could be promoted at events run by local community groups lending them the legitimacy of the organisations involved.

2. The non-use of energy efficient light bulbs- participants dissatisfaction with energy efficient light bulbs maybe improved by offering a selection of CFL bulbs, which are designed for use in many different sizes of light fitting. However, this may not be the whole solution for a number of reasons. Firstly CFL bulbs cannot be used with dimmer switches. Secondly, even CFL bulbs which are chosen to fit householders current light fittings may still be perceived as ugly by householders, as CFL bulbs are a different shape and give a different quality of light to traditional incandescent light bulbs. Recent research exploring energy consumption and household lighting has indicated that use of lighting relates as much to establishing a mood as clarity of vision, a desire to have stylish interiors can override environmental principles, and lighting choices made by householders tend to co-evolve with the household lighting portrayed by the media (Crosbie and Guy 2007). This work suggests that the uptake of energy efficient lighting is unlikely to improve unless more effort is put into the design and marketing of dedicated energy efficient light fittings, which are stylish and therefore desirable (Crosbie and Guy 2007).



Taken from a report published in October 2007 by the Carbon Reduction in Buildings consortium (of 5 UK universities).

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