Grant Holder(s)

Association for the Conservation of Energy

Main contact

Jacky Pett: jacky@ukace.org

Summary of project proposal

The Rising Fuel Prices project developed a web-based tool to determine the optimum measures to apply to different house types to reduce fuel poverty under different fuel price scenarios.  The tool, Fuel Prophet, is already proving valuable in policy circles and has had some additional housing types added.  Feedback indicates that further development is worthwhile to make it a really useful, well-focused tool for the primary audience, housing and stock managers.  This supplementary project provides a period of testing by this audience and a development workshop to be held in May 2006.

Start date

January 2006

Completion date

The event will take place in May 2006

Grant Holder(s)

Energy Audit Company

Main contact

Bill Wilkinson
Email: bwilkinson@energyaudit.co.uk

Summary of project proposal

The project will build on the work described in Energy Audit Company’s article SAP Targets and Affordability“ (Energy Action, Issue No.96, July 2005), and arrive at a simple easy to use tool to help social housing providers in England and Wales identify homes that are energy inefficient and set targets for their improvement to ensure all homes are capable of delivering affordable energy. The work will examine the information currently available to housing professionals and its accuracy and consider how SAP targets can be set that allow for rising fuel prices. Regional seminars will be held as part of the dissemination of results.

Start date

February 2006

Completion date

October 2006

Grant Holder(s)

Energy Audit Company

Main contact

Bill Wilkinson
Email: bwilkinson@energyaudit.co.uk

Summary of project proposal

The project will build on the work described in Energy Audit Company’s article SAP Targets and Affordability (Energy Action, Issue No. 96, July 2005), and arrive at a simple easy to use tool to help social housing providers in Scotland and Northern Ireland identify homes that are energy inefficient and set targets for their improvement to ensure all homes are capable of delivering affordable energy. The targets will use NHER and SAP and will allow comparison with similar work in England and Wales.

Start date

March 2006

Completion date

October 2006

Energy Ratings and Affordability
in Social Housing in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Grant Holder(s)

Centre for Sustainable Energy

Main contact

William Baker
Email: William.baker@cse.org.uk

Summary of project proposal

In 2002, CSE and the University of Bristol developed a methodology for predicting the level of fuel poverty in small areas. In brief, the work involved modelling the 1991 Census and 1996 English House Condition Survey (EHCS) to produce a ‘proxy’ indicator of fuel poverty based on Census variables. The fuel poverty indicator (FPI) is now widely used to target energy efficiency and fuel poverty programmes at areas with high levels of fuel poverty.

In this project, CSE and the University of Bristol will work on updating the FPI, with funding from Eaga Partnership Charitable Trust, DTI, Ofgem and the Energy Retail Association. The work will involve developing a new FPI, using data from the 2001 Census, 2003 EHCS and property database, RESIDATA. The research will use the new peer-reviewed methodology for calculating fuel poverty. The work includes a substantial dissemination element, including county maps of the FPI results at Super Output Area level, a website to access the maps and data and a launch conference. The new FPI should be available by spring 2006, with the maps and website ready by summer 2006.

Start date

August 2005

Completion date

May 2006

Useful Link

Grant Holder(s)

Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE)

Main contact

Jacky Pett, Head of Research, ACE
Email: jacky@ukace.org

Summary of project proposal

Since the summer of 2004, a number of economic, political and climatic events have coalesced around the issue of rising fuel prices. A new era of sustained high prices, heralded by expert commentators, will significantly affect the cost-effectiveness of various measures, including their ability to eradicate fuel poverty. This project has produced a publicly available, web-based tool called Fuel Prophet. It allows social housing providers and policy analysts to consider changes in the cost-effectiveness of various energy saving measures, and indicates which are best suited to alleviating fuel poverty in times of fuel price uncertainty, particularly in hard to heat homes.

Start date

January 2005

Completion date

End August 2005

Project Report

Rising Fuel Prices - Final Report [pdf]
Rising Fuel Prices - Summary Report [pdf]
Rising Fuel Prices - Executive Summary Report [pdf]

Grant Holder(s)

Association for the Conservation of Energy

Main contact

Pedro Guertler, Researcher, ACE – pedro@ukace.org

Summary of project proposal

The Review of English local authority fuel poverty reports and strategies (www.impetusconsult.co.uk/projects/current.html)was commissioned by Eaga Partnership Charitable Trust and published in September 2003. This project will add value to the Review by adding three routes of dissemination for the report’s findings. First, a ‘self-assessment’ webpage will be created where local authority officers can compare their efforts to tackle fuel poverty with ‘average’ levels of local authority activity in the UK and follow generated links to the most appropriate best practice case studies from the Review report. Each case study addresses a different aspect of tackling fuel poverty. The second and third additional routes of dissemination will include articles written for professional publications and the production of ‘glossy’ .pdf versions of the ten case studies.

Start date

March 2004

Completion date

End April 2004

Useful Link

www.ukace.org/selfassess

www.fuelprophet.org

Grant Holder(s)

Trevor Davison, Employment and Training Consultant

Main contact

Trevor Davison, Employment and Training Consultant trevord@globalnet.co.uk

Summary of project proposal

This project, which is supported in conjunction with NHS Scotland, seeks to illustrate through a series of case studies the different ways that the health sector in Scotland is responding to the problem of fuel poverty and its health implications.The project follows on from the publication of the Health Implications of Cold and Damp Housing – a training resource in June 2003. Almost one hundred health staff and health academics attended the training of trainers events associated with the resource and the case studies will describe how these participants have incorporated the resource in their area of work. The case studies will highlight aspects of good practice as well as potential barriers.The case studies will be published in June 2004 to coincide with the first annual updates of the training resource. Like the updates, the case studies will be available completely free of charge to all front line health staff throughout Scotland.

Start date

April 2004

Completion date

June 2004

Tackling the health implications of cold and damp housing - Full Report [pdf]

Grant Holder(s)

Association for the Conservation of Energy

Main contact

Jacky Pett, Senior Researcher,
ACE - jacky@ukace.org

Summary of project proposal

Affordable Warmth in Hard to Heat Homes: finding a way forward (available at www.ukace.org/pubs/reportfo/affwarm.pdf) was published in February 2002 and gave an overview of the extent and problems of fuel poverty in hard to heat homes. "Hard to heat" was defined as those without cavity walls, off the gas network or both. The project recommended a route map of work, covering policy, technology, knowledge sharing, best practice and marketing, in order to make progress. In the two years that have elapsed, both fuel poverty and hard to heat (or treat) homes have received much attention, but how much progress has been made? This project will review the evidence and interview the original and new stakeholder groups to provide up to date information.

Start date

November 2003

Completion date

January 2004

Project Report

Affordable Warmth in Hard to Heat Homes - Full Report [pdf]

Grant Holder(s)

Impetus Consulting Ltd

Main contact

Debbie Marock, Project Manager, Impetus Consulting - Debbie@impetusconsult.co.uk

Summary of project proposal

Findings from a recent study, commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, identified knowledge and skills gaps in local authorities on community engagement and partnership working - key elements in developing Community Plans. This project will be investigating the degree to which Community Planning is addressing fuel poverty, including consultation and partnership approaches being used. The project will be identifying which approaches are suitable for different scenarios through interviewing local authorities proactive in this field. The results will be presented as a toolkit for practitioners on how Community Planning can tackle fuel poverty through engagement and partnership techniques.

Start date

1 November 2003

Completion date

30 June 2004

Project Report

Community Planning as a tool for addressing fuel poverty - Full Report [pdf]

Location

Main project: England and it's regions
Warm Front analysis: eaga regions, i.e. all English regions except East.

Grant Holder

Centre for Sustainable Energy

Partners

Professor David Gordon, Director of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, is advising on data analysis methodologies.

Main contact

William Baker, Senior Researcher, CSE
Tel: 0117 9340 941; email: william@cse.org.uk

Summary of project proposal

To quantify and report on the extent and characteristics of rural fuel poverty in England, make comparisons with urban fuel poverty and rural deprivation and make recommendations appropriate to both rural policy and anti-fuel poverty policy.

The main objectives of the research are to answer the following questions:

• What is the overall extent of rural fuel poverty as opposed to urban fuel poverty within England?
• Which rural wards have the highest instances of fuel poverty and why?
• What is the relationship between housing characteristics, access to gas and other indicators of rural fuel poverty?
• Is it possible to produce a simple classification of rural wards according to their fuel poverty characteristics?
• Is Warm Front reaching the ‘rural fuel poor’?

Methodology

The project aims to explore and analyse a variety of existing databases to shed greater light on the extent and nature of rural fuel poverty, including comparisons with urban fuel poverty and rural deprivation in general. It will be unique in its attempt to synthesise information from the different data sources. The research will focus on quantitative measures of fuel poverty and its constituent characteristics.

The research will also attempt a simple classification of rural areas according to their fuel poverty characteristics. Access to gas or high level of hard to treat properties’ may be key variables in developing such a classification.

The research will also examine whether the take-up of Warm Front grants relative to need is lower in rural areas than urban. If this is found to be the case, the research will investigate possible explanations.

Start date

July 2003

Completion date

Summer 2006
The final report will include an analysis of the incidence of fuel poverty and related factors, including comparison between urban and rural areas, hard to treat homes and comparison with other rural deprivation indicators. It will also include a classification of rural fuel poverty, regional commentaries on the distribution of rural fuel poverty at small area level (with illustrative thematic maps) and policy recommendations.

Quantifying and classifying rural
fuel poverty - Interim report [pdf]

For more information, please visit the Rural Fuel Poverty website.

Grant Holder(s)

University of Strathclyde, Department of Architecture and Building Science

Main contact

Dr Stirling Howieson, University of Strathclyde

Summary of project proposal

This is a double blind, placebo controlled trial in energy efficient and inefficient dwellings, to lower
domestic relative humidity levels and monitor allergen reservoirs and patients' respiratory functions. The project aims to build on the foundations and data now forthcoming from phase I of the research.

Start date

2002

Completion date

2003

Grant Holder(s)

National Right to Fuel Campaign

Main contact

Trevor Houghton and Hugh Bown, National Right to Fuel Campaign

Summary of project proposal

This study examines the links between under-occupancy and fuel poverty in private sector housing by:

• Reviewing national data primarily from the English House Condition Survey 1996 (EHCS), and the English House Condition Survey 1996 Energy Report, along with other publications and research findings;
• A technical assessment of 6 example houses;
• In-depth interviews with housing professionals, advice and care agencies.
• A workshop with housing professionals, advice and care agencies, Government departments and fuel poverty organisations.

Start date

February 2002

Completion date

January 2003

Project Report

Under occupation and fuel poverty - Executive summary [word doc] and Under occupation and fuel poverty - full report [word doc]

Grant Holder(s)

Forum for the Future

Main contact

Lindsay Travis, Forum for the Future

Summary of project proposal

Green Futures is a bi-monthly magazine with news and debate on how the UK can make the transition to sustainability. This grant is for the production of a special supplement to Green Futures on fuel poverty, energy efficiency and health. Drawing on the experience of leading thinkers and practitioners in the field, this supplement will help make the case for a more positive, creative approach to achieving a sustainable energy future in the UK, and bringing people out of energy-related poverty.

Start date

June 2002

Completion date

September 2002

Grant Holder(s)

National Heart Forum

Main contact

Paul Lincoln, Chief Executive, National Heart Forum

Summary of project proposal

The project aims to raise awareness and action on fuel poverty and health higher on the NHS agenda, by encouraging changes in professional practice at primary care level and through new partnerships with the housing and energy efficiency sector. It will do this through the production of a practical toolkit for local health services, to encourage them to be become actively, appropriately and effectively involved in local partnerships to reduce fuel poverty and thus improve health. The toolkit will be marketed to all Primary Health Care Trusts and Teams, Emergency Winter Planning Teams and Local Strategic Partnerships and equivalent organisations throughout the UK.

Start date

March 2002

Completion date

March 2003

Project Report

Fuel Poverty and Health - Report [pdf]
Toolkit (this links to the National Heart Forum website)

Grant Holder(s)

Plymouth and South Devon Research and Development Support Unit

Main contact

Andy Barton, Co-ordinator, Plymouth and South Devon Research and Development Support Unit

Summary of project proposal

The project aims:

• To describe the health, particularly mental health, and well being of the residents of the social housing in Torquay, the condition of their housing and income.
• To explore the relationships between physical and mental health, income and housing conditions.
• To pave the way for two parallel studies: the first a randomised trial of whole house upgrades among a selected population in Torbay, and the second a randomised study with a factorial design attempting to tease out the differential effects of individual elements of a house upgrading programme.

Start date

31 March 2002

Completion date

31 December 2002

Project Report

The Riviera Housing and Health Survey - Full Report [pdf]

Grant Holder(s)

Plymouth and South Devon Research and Development Support Unit

Main contact

Meryl Basham, Researcher, Plymouth and South Devon Research and Development Support Unit

Summary of project proposal

The project is focused around a before and after interview survey in households which do not yet have central heating but which will have it installed as part of the improvement programme of the Riviera Housing Trust, who manage the social housing in Torbay. The project aims to promote understanding of the wider social issues of living in cold households by assessing: use of the house, and the well-being, and relationships of the household; and energy use, methods of payment and costs. It will provide evidence to inform housing improvement strategy by assessment of: the factors influencing energy use of the household; residents' knowledge of how to operate the heating system efficiently and effectively, and the importance of ventilation to the indoor environment; and relationships and well being of the household and beyond.

Start date

April 2002

Completion date

June 2003

Project Report

Central heating: uncovering the impact on social relationships and household management - Full Report [pdf]

Grant Holder(s)

University of Teesside, School of Health and Social Care

Main contact

Dr James Goodwin, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Teesside, School of Health and Social Care

Summary of project proposal

The project aims to investigate the relationship between the thermal behaviour of older people, the thermal gradients within the home and outside winter cold. Its objectives are:

• To examine the extent to which the activities of daily living of older people is related to indoor and outdoor winter cold
• To provide data for further studies into the risks of indoor and outdoor cold on the health of older people
• To provide data which will help to inform a health promotion message enabling the more healthy heating of homes, improvements in the degree to which older people are exposed to the cold and a reduction in the large numbers of excess winter deaths amongst older people.

Start date

October 2002

Completion date

June 2003

Project report

Seasonal cold, thermal behaviour and temperature distributions in the homes of older people - Report summary [word doc]

Seasonal cold, thermal behaviour and temperature distributions in the homes of older people - Full report [word doc]

Grant Holder(s)

Blyth Valley Borough Council, London Borough of Camden, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Luton Borough Council and Newark and Sherwood District Council

Main contact

Sarah Allen, Luton Borough Council and Oliver Myers, London Borough of Camden

Summary of project proposal

Five Beacon Councils* will produce an Affordable Warmth Toolkit, a valuable resource on tackling fuel poverty, available free of charge to all local authorities.

The Toolkit will summarise the strategies adopted by each of the authorities, showing common approaches but also highlighting those distinct elements in each which have been successful within the different circumstances of each authority.

This Toolkit will include case study information from each of the Beacon Councils, comparisons of approaches taken based on the different circumstances of each authority, advice on creating an affordable warmth strategy, creating local partnerships, ways of estimating the extent of fuel poverty within a locality and strategies to reach fuel poor households.

*Blyth Valley Borough Council
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
London Borough of Camden
Luton Borough Council
Newark and Sherwood District Council

Start date

January 2003

Completion date

June 2003

Project Report

Grant Holder(s)

Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), London School of Economics

Main contact

Tom Sefton, Research Fellow, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), London School of Economics

Summary of project proposal

This 5-month project will examine the likely impact of the Warm Front scheme in the context of the Government's commitment to eliminate fuel poverty for vulnerable households in England by 2010. The focus will be on the allocation of grants under the scheme - how well they are targeted at persistently fuel poor households and how the targeting of the scheme could be improved in order to have a greater impact on fuel poverty, with more intensive marketing strategies and/or by modifying the eligibility criteria. This will build on earlier work by the applicant, using administrative data on 350,000 recipients of Warm Front grants, alongside data from large scale household surveys, to simulate the impact of the current scheme over the longer term and the potential benefits of re-designing the scheme.

Start date

April 2003

Completion date

October 2003

Project Report

Targeting the Warm Front Scheme to Reduce Fuel Poverty [pdf]

Grant Holder(s)

Trevor Davison
Employment and Training Consultant

Main contact

Trevor Davison
Employment and Training Consultant

Summary of project proposal

This project aims to produce a comprehensive training resource focusing on the health implications of cold and damp housing. The primary target group for the resource will be front line health professionals. However, it will also be very useful to other staff in related caring professionals. The resource will contain all the necessary training materials (training manual, trainers' notes, training resources, background and essential reading) required by the trainer to deliver the two hour session at a local level. The resource is also supported by the NHS Education for Scotland and the Public Institute of Scotland. It will be issued free of charge to all training bodies throughout Scotland.

Start date

February 2003

Completion date

May 2003

Project Report

Training Resource - Updated [pdf]
Powerpoint slides to accompany the Training Resource [PowerPoint doc]

Grant Holder(s)

University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with Castlehill Housing Association and Aberdeen City Council Community Services

Main contact

Dr Liesl Osman, Senior Research Fellow, Chest Clinic, Aberdeen Infirmary – 1.osman@abdn.ac.uk

Summary of project proposal

In this project Aberdeen University and Aberdeen City Council are carrying out a randomised controlled trial among homeowners and Housing Association and Council tenants experiencing fuel poverty. This assesses the impact of participation in a unique programme developed by Aberdeen City Council to improve the energy efficiency of homes to bring them up to affordable warmth standard. The trial will evaluate health benefits of the scheme for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the effect of the home improvements on indoor environmental variables likely to affect respiratory health. This study is an exciting and innovative collaboration to inform housing policy in the UK.

Start date

1 September 2004

Completion date

31 July 2007

Grant Holder(s)

Rachel Consulting

Main contact

Xavier Bonnefoy
xbo@env-and-health.com

Summary of project proposal

This project will concentrate on data collected mainly in Armenia, France, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and possibly one Nordic country.  The aim of the project is to quantify the areas at most risk from fuel poverty across Europe and possibly highlight its extent.  Its main objectives are:

• To propose a harmonized definition of fuel poverty and a standard method of calculation.
• To provide the description of  “accessibility” to energy for satisfying thermal comfort in various European countries, to discuss the relative average cost of energy to household budgets compared with other costs.
• To review the policy answers provided by local, regional and national governments.

Start date

June 2006

Completion date

June 2007

Grant Holder(s)

Centre for Sustainable Energy/Association for the Conservation of Energy/Richard Moore

Main contact

Ian Preston, CSE
e-mail: ianp@cse.org.uk

Summary of project proposal

The project aims to answer two questions that are consistently asked by policy makers.  How much would it cost to deliver affordable warmth to all fuel poor households, and how much would it cost to raise all properties to a minimum standard of energy efficiency that protects residents from fuel poverty?

Start date

July 2006

Completion date

January 2007

Grant Holder(s)

Northumbria University Sustainable Cities Research Institute

Main contact

Lyn Dodds lyn.dodds@unn.ac.uk

Summary of project proposal

Sustainable Cities Research Institute will be carrying out a community-based investigation into the barriers preventing people from taking up fuel poverty alleviation measures.  The research will triangulate findings from documentary analysis, interviews with fuel poverty alleviation agency staff, and Participatory Appraisal (PA) with communities.  PA facilitates a full exploration of all aspects of a given issue from the participant’s perspective. This will build on the existing work in this area, with a focus on the needs of the would-be end users of fuel poverty alleviation measures.    

Start date

September 2006

Completion date

May 2007

Grant Holder(s)

New Policy Institute

Main contact

Peter Kenway peter.kenway@npi.org.uk

Summary of project proposal

The overall aim of the project is that fuel poverty should become seen and understood as an integral part of poverty and social exclusion more generally.  Within this, the main objectives are:

• to establish what proportion of those in, or near to, fuel poverty are also in income poverty and what proportion are not;
• to establish how far those in, or near to, fuel poverty overlap with other deprived and disadvantaged groups;
• to identify how far other anti-poverty/exclusion policies and programmes may impact upon the fuel poor;
• to challenge policy makers, campaigners and others to consider how the policies they promote or pursue may impact upon either the fuel poor or other deprived groups. 

Start date

September 2006

Completion date

March 2007

Grant Holder(s)

National Centre for Social Research

Main contact

Jenny Harris, Senior Researcher
j.harris@natcen.ac.uk

Summary of project proposal

While there is an established evidence base for the link between poor physical health and fuel poverty, there is a lack of robust research exploring fuel poverty’s association with poor mental health.  This study involves secondary analysis of data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2006/7 (APMS).  The APMS is part of a series of surveys that provides the key national statistics on community mental health rates, by using specific psychiatric assessments rather than general mental health indicators.  Analysis will focus on the relationship between mental health and various measures of fuel poverty, housing characteristics, and other aspects of financial strain.   

Start date

September 2006

Completion date

June 2009

Grant Holder(s)

Changeworks

Main contact

Nicholas Heath, Project Officer NHeath@changeworks.org.uk

Summary of project proposal

Energising our heritage

Edinburgh’s Old Town is in a World Heritage Site.  Unfortunately many residents are at severe risk of fuel poverty as their homes, whilst visually outstanding, are highly energy inefficient and closely protected by conservation regulations.

This groundbreaking project involves extensive research and negotiation, followed by a pilot case to improve energy efficiency while satisfying planning and conservation requirements.  This will safeguard the long-term sustainability of these valuable buildings, working in partnership with housing providers, planners, conservation experts and householders.

Start date

April 2007

Completion date

June 2008

Grant Holder(s)

Pett Projects

Main contact

Tel: 01603 879890
Email: pett.projects@btinternet.com