Energy savings

With insight from BRE highlighting over half (54%) of consumers would prefer to buy or rent a home that had a ‘sustainability stamp of approval’, the growth in renewable technologies, is set to continue.

Here, Dan Redfern, Marketing Manager at Marley, looks at the variety of renewable solutions available to help housing associations build compliant and desirable homes.

Water conservation is the key to reducing energy bills.  Heating water accounts for nearly 1/5th of energy use in UK homes.

Reducing hot water demand is an effective way to help occupants conserve energy and reduce bills.  Some uses are fixed, e.g. the washing machine or dishwasher.  However, many are not. 

As winter’s icy grip bites harder, the effective insulation and sealing of windows and doors is a priority, says Andy Swift, sales and operations manager for foam sealants specialist, ISO Chemie.As winter’s icy grip bites harder, the effective insulation and sealing of windows and doors is a priority, says Andy Swift, sales and operations manager for foam sealants specialist, ISO Chemie.
 
He says it’s not just the frames themselves that need attention when it comes to keeping out the cold this winter - it’s the entire installation which has to be addressed.
 
Most property owners probably don’t realise that they are among the majority with energy inefficient windows until they feel a cold draught from somewhere, or see their electric and gas bills rapidly escalate as they struggle to keep their properties warm.

Manufacturing windows and doors to keep communities safe has been a key driver for Shelforce for more than four decades.

The Birmingham-based company provides high-quality PVCu products and Fire doors for specialist window and door projects tailored to local authorities and housing associations and employs some of the city’s most vulnerable people with 75% of its workforce disabled.

As a result, Shelforce has developed effective relationships and works with national contractors and leading house builders within Birmingham and beyond.

In the UK water conservation has been almost treated with derision.  Excepting the summer of 1976, water restrictions are limited to occasional hose pipe bans.  However, the wider impact of excessive water usage is now becoming recognised.

The connections between water, the environment and energy costs are being highlighted by organisations as diverse as the United Nations through to local conservation groups.  

Nick Gander and Rod Davies of Energy Carbon tackle some common concerns when preparing low-income housing ready for the future.

We live in a rapidly changing world with exciting changes in the UK impacting what we are able to supply for low-income families for their new homes.

The home needs to be ‘green’ and have low embodied carbon. It needs to have zero energy bills and should have little to no ongoing maintenance costs. It must also meet all the government’s targets for 2050, and beyond. But what does this all actually mean?

Housing associations face two highly important retrofit challenges. One is to bring about the decarbonisation of the UK’s social housing stock as part of the battle against climate change, the other is to make their homes more energy efficient and, thus, more affordable for residents. Stewart Little, CEO of IRT Surveys, explains how social housing associations can make smart retrofit decisions to guide them on their path to decarbonisation and energy efficiency.

There are two forces driving energy efficiency within social housing. The most pressing is climate change. With the Climate Clock  predicting that, at the current rate of emissions, the 1.5°C rise in temperature will be surpassed in 2032, there is an existential need to make the UK’s housing stock more sustainable. If this is not achieved by 2050, it is predicted that housing will be responsible for 95% of the UK’s built-environment emissions.