– have you been thinking about reducing your home’s carbon footprint?
Energy use in the home is responsible for around 20% of direct carbon emissions.
Local charity Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC) has recently launched Winchester Area SuperHomes, a two year non-profit project aimed at reducing home energy use, in partnership with the National Energy Foundation.
It will provide homeowners with tailored, independent advice on how they can retrofit their properties to reduce their carbon emissions. Winchester Area SuperHomes can help homeowners to transform the energy performance of their home to reduce its carbon footprint, by retrofitting. Retrofitting means changing a property so that it uses less energy and has lower carbon heating.
WinACC is looking to provide 150 homeowners across Winchester District with detailed Whole House Retrofit Plans which cover areas such as insulation, solar panels and heat pumps. This is a detailed assessment of your property and will include a costed list of all the suitable measures you could take to reduce your home’s energy use and carbon footprint.
The real benefit is being linked into a project that provides:
- Access to qualified and accredited Retrofit Coordinators
- Technical back up from the National Energy Foundation
Winchester Area SuperHomes will provide financial help with some costs for homeowners on low and middle incomes (although the scheme is open to homeowners on all income levels) – this will include some of the survey and design costs, and provide advice on available grants. From April, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will provide grants of £5,000 towards the cost of an air source heat pump. For homeowners on low incomes, the Green Homes Local Authority Delivery scheme can provide grants of up to £10,000.
The first step is for the Project Officer to arrange a home visit or video call to fully explain the SuperHomes scheme. If you choose to take it forward, they will help arrange for a qualified Retrofit Coordinator to carry out a survey of your property and produce a Whole House Retrofit Plan.
A public meeting on this project is being held at Weeke Community Centre on Friday
11 March, between 5.00 and 6.45pm. All are welcome.
For further information and register your interest, go to: