Green Streets
Cardiff

Cardiff families cut energy use by almost a quarter in British Gas' year-long Green Streets energy challenge

• Greenway Road in Cardiff comes fifth in UK energy saving challenge
• Energy bill savings of £200 per UK household possible
• ippr think tank calls for quicker roll out of smart meters to speed up energy savings nationwide

Residents of Greenway Road in Cardiff have slashed their energy usage by almost a quarter (24.15 per cent) as part of the British Gas Green Streets programme, a year long energy efficiency challenge which finishes today.

Green Streets was a year-long social experiment in energy saving, monitored and analysed by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr), which releases its final report on the challenge today recommending how to encourage similar energy savings for families across the UK. Sixty-four families took part in the programme.

The findings, from Green Streets show that if every household in the country followed suit they could cut an average of £200 a year from their energy bills.  They also show how the UK can beat the Government target to cut carbon emissions by saving 35 million tonnes of CO2 – the annual carbon emissions of three coal-fired power stations.

Green Lane in Cookridge, Leeds is unveiled today as the greenest street in the challenge, having cut its energy use by nearly 35 per cent (34.29 per cent) in the past year.  Greenway Road came fifth with an energy reduction of 24.15 per cent.  The biggest energy savers on Greenway Road were Jackie and Spud Murphy, who managed to slash their energy bill by 47 per cent, making them the fourth biggest energy savers of all the Green Streets households.  Elsewhere, individual households cut their energy use by as much as 70 per cent.

British Gas gave households on eight streets in eight UK cities a budget of £30,000 per street to spend on energy efficiency measures. Residents were also given tips from British Gas energy experts on how to save energy through simple changes of behaviour such as turning off lights when not in a room and not leaving the television on standby. These small changes in lifestyle led to big drops in energy use.

By reducing their CO2 emissions and energy use the most, the residents of Green Lane, Leeds have scooped a £50,000 prize to spend on making a community building of their choice more energy efficient.
From 28 January 2008 to 28 January 2009, the families achieved the following energy savings and CO2 reductions based on a mix of using energy efficient equipment (from boilers, to insulation, to solar panels), and simple behavioural changes:

 

Green Streets League Table

The ippr has calculated that if these savings were replicated across the UK, families could cut electricity and gas bills by £200.Domestic energy usage acc ounts for 28 per cent of the UK's total CO2 emissions, while it accounts for nearly 60 per cent of each of our personal carbon footprints.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas, said,

"We live in an era of volatile energy prices. Reducing the amount of energy we use is the single biggest thing we can all do to reduce bills and cut emissions.

"We are very aware that our customers are facing tough financial times. But with £1 in every £4 that people spend heating their homes being wasted due to poor insulation, savings can be made easily. Green Streets shows that through small changes in behaviour and cheap measures such as better insulation, families can make significant cash savings off their bills.

"The householders on our Green Streets throughout the UK have been inspirational in showing us how we can all be greener and save money. It's up to all of us to follow their lead."

Jackie Murphy commented:

"All we've really done to reduce our energy usage is to be sensible - unless something is in use, it gets switched off - and that goes for everything, washing machine, lights, kettle, TV etc. I've also turned my washing machine down so that I wash most things at 30 degrees and I very rarely use my tumble dryer now. Small measures really make a difference and once you start doing these things they soon becomes second nature. We will definitely keep on with our energy saving measures, especially as we're already seeing the savings in our bills."

Energy policy experts at the ippr monitored the Green Streets programme throughout the year on behalf of British Gas and found that:

• Green Streets families started the experiment in 2007 with carbon emissions of 6.14 tonnes of CO2 per household, slightly above the UK average of 6 tonnes per household for 2006; by the end of the experiment, they had cut this figure by an average of 23 per cent.
• Applied across the UK, these carbon savings could translate to an annual reduction of 35 million tonnes of CO2 - roughly equivalent to the output of three to four coal-fired power stations.
• Gas demand across Green Streets households fell by almost 26 per cent on average; if all UK households were to see a similar fall, total demand for gas in the UK could be cut by over eight per cent, roughly a third of the UK's current gas imports. Gas savings were seen as the primary driver of all energy savings.
• Looking at 'predicted energy savings' from individual green technologies for households, compared to actual energy savings in Green Streets, it became clear that simple behaviour changes can increase energy savings dramatically.
• Householders cited face-to-face energy advice; the use of handheld electrasave meters and smart-meters and the "street vs. street" competition as key drivers of behaviour change.

The researchers have made the following specific recommendations for public policy:

• Speed up the roll-out of smart meters: The roll-out of smart meter technology, planned by Government from the end of 2010, should be fast-tracked to enable households to see how much energy they use and can save.
• New green finance packages: Green Streets families benefited from an average of £3,750 of free insulation and energy saving appliances and measures, an investment which could pay for itself in some cases in just three years. In order to fast-track the financing of home refurbishments, energy companies have trialled systems whereby customers can pay off these costs over the course of their annual fuel bills.
• Energising communities: Government policy should seek to replicate the Green Streets' competition mechanic by incentivising communities to change their behaviours with tangible rewards, rather than focusing on measures targeted at individual households acting alone. The ippr recommend an annual national energy saving prize-fund of circa £4m, broken down into city level prizes of as little as £5,000, with competitions monitored through smart-meters. Community energy clubs should be encouraged and supported by energy suppliers. Investment in the Community Action for Energy programme should be expanded.
• Innovation in energy savings programmes: Provision of face to face advice was seen as a huge driver of behaviour change amongst residents. Regulations should be changed to incentivise energy companies to deliver 'education' and face to face advice.

Matthew Lockwood, Senior Fellow in the Climate Team, ippr and the report's author, added:

"The UK has steep carbon reduction targets of 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050. We were surprised at the commitment of the Green Streets householders in showing how we might meet them. Nine in ten of the homes we will live in by 2020 have already been built, so we will need creative approaches to keep carbon reduction front of mind during a recession."