One of the innovative technologies that won an Ashden Award in 2013
One of the biggest challenges the UK faces both in terms of reducing our carbon emissions and lifting millions of people out of fuel poverty is finding a solution to the millions of solid wall properties that can’t install cavity wall insulation.
The good news is, new products are coming onto the market that are helping help take much of the pain out of the process. Last year came across WHISCERS – a handy acronym for ‘Whole House In-Situ Carbon and Energy Reduction Solution’. Created by the Sustainable Energy Academy, in 2010 the charity teamed up with social housing contractor United House to turn it into a commercial service.
Says John Doggart, CEO of SEA: “In our work on creating model eco homes, one of the things we realised was that there was a missing link in making homes more energy efficient – a way of insulating solid walls so they perform very well.” Doggart developed a process that uses a laser measurement device to survey walls so they can be insulated to an accuracy of better than 1mm, with rooms measured in a matter of minutes.
The data resulting from the laser survey is then downloaded to a factory where a computer program optimises the size and shape of insulation panels required for easy insulation, including allowing for windows, cornices, power sockets and so on. The panels are delivered for installation in packs. Because they have been cut to convenient size they can be carried into a house by one person without damaging any walls and furniture. Installation takes about one and a half hours per room, so a whole house can be fitted in a day. Fitters are also trained to remove and replace cornices, sockets and radiators.
Says Chris Cheshire, Sustainability Consultant at United House: “For installers, it’s not that much more complicated than putting a giant jigsaw puzzle together. People can carry on with their lives with the work happening around them.”
The whole process is so pain-free that tenants don’t even have to move out to allow the work to happen. Says Tom Clyne, a Camden Council tenant: “The biggest thing for us was that we didn’t have to move out. All the furniture stayed more or less where it was – and if we had to move things at all the builders helped.”
All of this eases the strain on housing association budgets: aside from an average 25% saving on insulation costs, decanting costs are also avoided.
UH/SEA won an Ashden Gold Award – our most prestigious award – in June 2013. The judging panel was impressed at its potential to break down the barriers to making our housing stock more energy efficient, which they said could “revolutionize the home insulation sector.”
Come along and hear John and the team speak about their innovation at the Eco Technology Show.
Simon Brammer, Programme Manager, Ashden Awards