Making Ashburton-style Homes Fit For the Future

Aims:

MASHFFF – Making Ashburton Homes Fit For The Future - was awarded £24,000-worth of Government funding at the beginning of 2012 to deliver 12 free energy audits on a variety of properties in the town, showing how local buildings can be made more energy efficient, cosier and cheaper to run.

Thanks to the Department of Energy and Climate Change-backed Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF), MASHFFF is exploring how local homes can go much greener by commissioning 12 energy audits on a cross-section of Ashburton homes and community buildings – many of which are listed or within a Conservation Area.

The results of the home energy audits will be shared with the community to spread the knowledge about possible energy efficiency as widely as possible.

Further information:

MASHFFF is enabling 12 free home-energy audits to be carried on out a cross-section of properties within Ashburton, using state-of-the art thermal imaging techniques to reveal where homes are leaking heat. The audits, worth over £600 each, to be carried out by local energy efficiency and renewable energy advisors Anahat Energy, will discover:

• suitable energy-saving measures for each property – including listed buildings and those within the Conservation Area.
• the cost of those measures and how long they’ll take to pay for themselves
• the amount of potential fuel-bill savings
• what can be done for free or little money
• the availability of grant assistance

The audits will help to demystify green home improvement jargon, whilst advising residents on contractors who can carry out this work. They’ll also explain more about the Green Deal – the Government’s new system of low-cost loans for home eco-improvements.
What happens during the audit?The audits will be undertaken by local energy consultancy Anahat Energy and will take approximately 3-4 hours.Participants will be asked about their home’s heating, hot water and electrical equipment and bills over the last year or two will be analysed to gauge how much energy is currently being used.The consultants will take measurements of walls, roof, doors, floor and windows and investigate what materials they are made from. They will look at levels of insulation and also sources of draughts.They will also conduct an air-tightness test where a large fan sucks air out of the house to a certain pressure and then slowly re-pressurises, to measure how “leaky” the house is.A thermal imaging camera will assess where heat is being lost from the building and to help the householders visualise where the draughts are coming from.The consultants will assess the potential for all possible renewable energy technologies and compile a report of their findings - the results of which will be shared with the community to spread the knowledge as widely as possible.