The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households

Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households
Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households
A three-year field experiment was conducted with 185 prosperous households to assess whether behavioural interventions by a community environmental group during and after thermal upgrades (cavity wall and/or loft insulation) can achieve reductions in households’ energy use, including reductions in direct and indirect rebound. The engineering interventions on the thermal efficiency of dwellings appear effective in reducing energy use in both treatment and control groups: a direct rebound effect is estimated of at most 40 per cent from the engineering interventions. However, across a range of measures of energy use, we observe no significant effect of the community behavioural intervention across the total lifetime of the project. Qualitative data collected on similar groups suggests constraints on their capacity to realise reductions in energy use amongst households.
0301-4215
475-485
Bardsley, Nicholas
4cc36030-2783-4def-a06f-9f2aee92663e
Buchs, Milena
c62b4fbd-660c-4642-876e-de9512db9a9c
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Papafragkou, Anastasios
604b6a26-b07c-4d54-a29b-484c8fece162
Rushby, Thomas
bdb7715f-0331-491c-a9dd-5835f30b0bf8
Saunders, C.
38a38da8-1eb3-47a8-80bc-b9cbb43f26e3
Smith, Graham
f490019c-fdee-473a-bf9b-62be5505a206
Wallbridge, Rebecca E
5f3479b8-08e4-426b-bc37-0f7e33871e14
Woodman, Nicholas
9870f75a-6d12-4815-84b8-6610e657a6ad
Bardsley, Nicholas
4cc36030-2783-4def-a06f-9f2aee92663e
Buchs, Milena
c62b4fbd-660c-4642-876e-de9512db9a9c
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Papafragkou, Anastasios
604b6a26-b07c-4d54-a29b-484c8fece162
Rushby, Thomas
bdb7715f-0331-491c-a9dd-5835f30b0bf8
Saunders, C.
38a38da8-1eb3-47a8-80bc-b9cbb43f26e3
Smith, Graham
f490019c-fdee-473a-bf9b-62be5505a206
Wallbridge, Rebecca E
5f3479b8-08e4-426b-bc37-0f7e33871e14
Woodman, Nicholas
9870f75a-6d12-4815-84b8-6610e657a6ad

Bardsley, Nicholas, Buchs, Milena, James, Patrick, Papafragkou, Anastasios, Rushby, Thomas, Saunders, C., Smith, Graham, Wallbridge, Rebecca E and Woodman, Nicholas (2019) Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households. Energy Policy, 127, 475-485. (doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.11.036).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A three-year field experiment was conducted with 185 prosperous households to assess whether behavioural interventions by a community environmental group during and after thermal upgrades (cavity wall and/or loft insulation) can achieve reductions in households’ energy use, including reductions in direct and indirect rebound. The engineering interventions on the thermal efficiency of dwellings appear effective in reducing energy use in both treatment and control groups: a direct rebound effect is estimated of at most 40 per cent from the engineering interventions. However, across a range of measures of energy use, we observe no significant effect of the community behavioural intervention across the total lifetime of the project. Qualitative data collected on similar groups suggests constraints on their capacity to realise reductions in energy use amongst households.

Text
Effects_Paper_Energy_Policy_final_dec2018 - Accepted Manuscript
Download (1MB)
Text
1-s2.0-S0301421518307638-main-1 - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (2MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 16 November 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 January 2019
Published date: April 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 426965
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/426965
ISSN: 0301-4215
PURE UUID: 9401bbb5-19b4-4666-ac77-bf1d8fa2fb80
ORCID for Patrick James: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2694-7054
ORCID for Thomas Rushby: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3686-5140
ORCID for Nicholas Woodman: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5571-0451

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Jan 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:25

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Nicholas Bardsley
Author: Milena Buchs
Author: Patrick James ORCID iD
Author: Anastasios Papafragkou
Author: Thomas Rushby ORCID iD
Author: C. Saunders
Author: Graham Smith
Author: Rebecca E Wallbridge

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×