Superhomes
By Ed Mitchell 4th July 2011
If you are thinking about making changes to your home to make it more energy efficient, then visiting homes in your local area, and talking to the homeowners, is a great way to get a grip on what is and isn’t suitable.
There are a few great projects out there; we know of local volunteer run ones in Bristol, Brighton, Stroud, and more, and here’s one run by the Sustainable Energy Academy that covers the whole of the UK called Superhomes.
You can have a look at the superhomes website, and here is their outline:
The SuperHomes initiative educates and stimulates homeowners and communities to transform their homes into sustainable, energy-efficient “SuperHomes”. A SuperHome is one where carbon emissions have been cut by over 60%. The SuperHomes organisation encourages and supports SuperHome owners to showcase their exemplar homes to other homeowners and to the wider community so that they too are inspired to take action.
SuperHomes was set up by the charity Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA) three years ago. It has been a great success and has won several awards. So far, over 100 SuperHomes have opened their doors to more than 50,000 people, many of whom are now making significant investments in refurbishing their homes and benefiting from a more energy efficient lifestyle. Over 80% of the population of England and Wales is within 40 minutes of a SuperHome and we have just opened two SuperHomes in Scotland.
96% of visitors to SuperHomes improve their understanding of energy efficiency solutions. Many go on to take action, with an average investment of over £2,000 per visitor spent on energy efficiency measures in the 12 months after a visit. One in four spends over £5,000.
The SuperHomes initiative succeeds because it provides visitors with a tangible and interactive experience with a retrofitted home and its owners. The owners themselves guide visitors round their homes, explaining the challenges, pitfalls and solutions. They show people that a whole-house retrofit is achievable and worthwhile.
In the run up to the launch of the Government’s Green Deal in 2012, which aims to retrofit 7 million homes by 2020, the SEA is expanding its SuperHomes initiative to win the hearts and minds of many more householders to take action to improve their homes.
We believe that living, exemplar SuperHomes can turn energy retrofit from boring to beautiful, and from dull to inspiring. Energy retrofit not only reduces costs but upgrades comfort, and adds value to the selling price too. And all this is demonstrated by the SuperHomer, a uniquely trusted source of information.
- For more details, please visit our web site www.superhomes.org.uk
- Contact: Gabby Mallett at gabby.mallett@superhomes.org.uk