A guest blog by Rosalind Dean
Yorkshire is full of householders who want to cut the cost of their energy and the amount of carbon they put into the air. But they have heard stories about insulation that rots the house and solar panel installers that go out of business. What to do?
On the other side, there are builders and other contractors who want to make sure they do a good job for their customers and for the environment. But how to find them?
Fortunately, there are more and more people out there trying to help us bridge that gap. There are three events in Sheffield this week, run by SY Ecofit and the City Council. There is still time to enrol in the FutureFit Homes Workshop with Grove Road Environmental Group on Saturday morning 25th January 2024 at Holy Trinity Parish Hall, Grove Road. Contact SY Ecofit at https://www.ecofit.uk/. If you miss these events more will come along shortly.
Before Christmas, I took part in a Winter Warmers Webinar that gave the low down on low-energy building and renovation throughout Yorkshire. I found it inspiring! Though I have to confess that I am an enthusiast for the technical details of retrofit. (By the way, that word retrofit turns up a lot, but it just means making improvements to homes so they are more energy efficient and cosier, with lower bills and emissions.)
Anyway, I got the picture of all these imaginative and creative people working to bring about change in a way that benefits individuals and the environment. In a low-key way, on a personalised basis. Even houses that look the same are often used in different ways and need to be treated differently.
You can listen to the webinar here.
There is lots of advice, for example: looking at the house as a whole, because insulation, ventilation and heating interact with each other; making sure your house is in good repair before you do anything new; getting someone to assess the risk of moisture properly as it can get trapped behind insulation; finding contractors that understand and care about the environment through the Association for Environmentally Conscious Builders.
One of the stories I liked best, was how the operatives working for a “deep retrofit” company in Keighley felt able to question the architects because they had the training and experience to know what they were doing and why, and the architect had not. Operatives do not normally have the confidence to challenge architects!
More sadly there were stories of electricians, for example, who made unnecessary mistakes, like drilling through airtight membranes “because I’ve always done it like this”.
At the other end of the scale, there is a community-based experiment in Kirklees called “Energy Neighbours”, which is supporting community led action on fuel poverty, both for residents and community buildings. It aims to help people find ways in which they can harness their own expertise, in how they live and what their problems are, to work with grant making bodies, that can be inflexible, and technical “experts”, who may not be familiar with the daily challenges.
Our very own South Yorkshire Ecofit is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company based in Sheffield. They offer support to householders, from initial advice and home assessments, improvement suggestions, retrofit planning and design, through to installation of appropriate retrofit measures. They also hold free workshops on home energy and retrofit for residents.
On a slightly different note, Sheffield Renewables is a Community Benefit Society that builds, owns and operates Renewable Energy Schemes in Sheffield. They are currently generating at five sites, including a school, a police station, a food cooperative, a community centre and a cohousing project. Their latest venture, also in partnership with SY Ecofit, is looking into generating renewable energy and decarbonising the Our Cow Molly dairy farm. They are not currently looking for funding, but they do have a newsletter so you can hear about investment opportunities.
There is a general recommendation that it is best to insulate your house first before investing in a heat pump or solar panels. For example, Which says “The most obvious reason to improve your home’s efficiency is for an immediate decrease in your energy bills. However, the benefits of insulation should not be measured in cost savings alone.
Good insulation also improves comfort levels by keeping you cosy in winter and cool in summer, and cuts your home’s carbon emissions by lowering your energy consumption.”
I have been putting my money where my mouth is, and trying out bits of retrofit and energy generation on my own house. For what it is worth, the payback on the insulation on my outside walls will probably take more than 20 years. The payback on my solar panels (and batteries topped up with cheap nighttime electricity) should be less than 10 years. But then I was lucky enough to have a south-facing roof, and my house was already quite well insulated.
So, every house and householder is unique. But get started, and find out what can be done with yours, small and simple, or big and elaborate.
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