Climate Change Mitigation and the Social Housing Sector Dr Carolyn - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Climate Change Mitigation and the Social Housing Sector

Dr Carolyn S Hayles

Senior Lecturer Programme Leader: MSc Architecture, Advanced Environmental & Energy Studies Graduate School of the Environment Centre for Alternative Technology UK

To understand…

• Barriers and motivators surrounding ‘sustainable’ behaviour in

the home

• How tenants responds to design and technology aimed at

reducing carbon emissions in order to create durable change

Premise for research

What? The project

Funded by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast (QUB)

• Investigate social housing tenants’ awareness and perceptions
• f climate change and low carbon ‘sustainable’ living and their

current behaviours

• Work with social housing professionals to establish their

understanding

• Determine the challenges and opportunities for achieving

sustainable low/zero carbon housing

Why? Rationale: Social Housing Targets

• UK Government’s aim is to reduce carbon emission by 60% by

2050

• Building and construction sector have been targeted
• By 2016 all new build homes are to be zero carbon

– Net of zero carbon over the year inclusive of all energy use in the home

• very low carbon or renewable energy
• high levels of insulation

Why? Rationale: The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH)

• Established in 2007
• National Standard for the sustainable design and construction
• f new homes
• Measures the sustainability of a new home against nine

categories of sustainable design, rating the 'whole home' as a complete package

• Minimum standards for energy and water use at each level
• Uses a 1 to 6 rating system to communicate the overall

sustainability performance of a new home

When?

Nov 2009 – Dec 2010

Who?

• 53 NIHE tenant families (future tenants of Code 4-6 housing)
• Cross section of industry stakeholders

How? Decision Support Framework (Hayles & Dean, 2010; 2011)

• 1. Awareness
• 2. Behaviour
• 3. Intervention
• 4. Action

• Map behaviours as a precursor to achieving behavioural

change

• Consider technological interventions, end users and the

relationship between them

• Study of motivations, values and self efficacy
• Take into account social norms and practices that underpin

the behaviour of the individual or community

• Include both top down and bottom up processes,

encompassing stakeholders and end users

Decision Support Framework

Recommendations from previous research

Social Housing tenants: Awareness and Behaviours

• Scene Setting
• Energy use in the home
• Energy strategies
• Food
• Water
• Consumer Behaviour
• Demographics

Results 1 Summary of Key Perceptions: Climate Change

Results 2 Summary of Key Perceptions: Energy

Results 3 Summary of Key Behaviours: Energy Use in the Home

Results 4 Summary of Key Behaviours: Water Use in the Home

Figure 1: Example ecological footprint results

Intervention: Focus Group

The tenant focus groups aimed to further explore end users perceptions and awareness of sustainable living through a series

• f activities:
• Awareness of media campaigns to encourage sustainable

behaviours

• Perceptions of sustainable housing and design features
• Behavioural changes required to live in such a home and their

feelings towards such change

Summary from Tenant Focus Group

Summary from Tenant Focus Group continued….

Action

• Feedback to stakeholders
• Supported transition to new ‘sustainable’ home
• Post occupancy behaviour evaluation

Stakeholders

Interviews

• Scene setting
• Approaches to sustainable design and construction
• Perceptions of tenants’ requirements
• Appropriateness of current design guides

Focus Groups

• Feedback on stakeholders perceptions and awareness of

sustainable behaviours

• Exploration of design strategies
• Discussion on challenges and barriers to change
• Feedback on tenant behaviours and how to further encourage and

support sustainable behaviours in conjunction with design and technology

• Tenants were aware of climate change and willing to make

changes to reduce their energy consumption

• Many behaviours are already in place
• More needs to be done to support tenants’ willingness to

change

• Stakeholders suggest that the industry is neither ready nor

willing to embrace change and identified a number of barriers

• More needs to be done to support the industry to drive

through innovation and meet the challenges of CSH and Zero Carbon

Conclusions

• When considering sustainable housing, appropriate design and

technology are not enough, it is also necessary to foster sustainable behaviour

• Occupant engagement is therefore essential if the UK

Government’s zero carbon targets are to be met

• Tenants in this study have demonstrated a willingness to

engage

• The industry now needs to harness this willingness and work

with tenants to develop sustainable strategies for low/zero carbon living

Recommendations

Thank You

Dr Carolyn S Hayles

carolyn.hayles@cat.org.uk