An assessment of the potential returns of energy certificates for the UK household sector

Purpose – This article seeks to investigate the interconnections between the expectations of the impact of energy certificates issued within the UK domestic building sector through the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the actual number and financial implications of the energy saving measures (ESMs) achieved. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology uses two previously published surveys and compares these with a third independent survey by the authors focusing upon the discrepancies between planned action and implemented action, introducing the term human factor element (hfe). Findings – The article concludes that annual carbon savings arising from implementation of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) may be as low as 73.4?ktC over the five year term of the Kyoto Protocol even though 44 per cent of energy saving measure costs of £200 million are recouped within the same time period and savings will continue for up to 40 years. Achieving annual savings of only 14.7?ktC by 2010, such a figure represents a mere 0.3 per cent of the annual domestic 4.8?MtC savings announced by the government in its 2006 Climate Change Programme. Practical implications – Since the principal determinant in the uptake of ESMs is initial cost, it is considered that the EPBD is likely to remain an under-performing instrument in the promotion of energy sufficiency until such time as other complementary provisions are introduced. Originality/value – Sheds light upon the likely financial impact upon energy efficiency in domestic buildings by energy certificates

The perceived barriers to the inclusion of rainwater harvesting systems by UK house building companies

This work investigates the barriers that exist to deter the implementation of rainwater harvesting into new UK housing. A postal questionnaire was sent to a selection of large, medium and small house-builders distributed across the UK. Questions were asked concerning potential barriers to the inclusion of rainwater harvesting in homes separated into five sections; (1) institutional and regulatory gaps, (2) economic and financial constraints, (3) absence of incentives, (4) lack of information and technical knowledge, and (5) house-builder attitudes. The study concludes that although the knowledge of rainwater systems has increased these barriers are deterring house-builders from installing rainwater harvesting systems in new homes. It is further acknowledged that the implementation of rainwater harvesting will continue to be limited whilst these barriers remain and unless resolved, rainwater harvesting's potential to reduce the consumption of potable water in houses will continue to be limited

Judgements of style: People, pigeons, and Picasso

Judgements of and sensitivity to style are ubiquitous. People become sensitive to the structural regularities of complex or “polymorphous” categories through exposure to individual examples, which allows them respond to new items that are of the same style as those previously experienced. This thesis investigates whether a dimension reduction mechanism could account for how people learn about the structure of complex categories. That is, whether through experience, people extract the primary dimensions of variation in a category and use these to analyse and categorise subsequent instances. We used Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) as the method of dimension reduction, which yields the main dimensions of variation of pixel-based stimuli (eigenvectors). We then tested whether a simple autoassociative network could learn to distinguish paintings by Picasso and Braque which were reconstructed from only these primary dimensions of variation. The network could correctly classify the stimuli, and its performance was optimal with reconstructions based on just the first few eigenvectors. Then we reconstructed the paintings using either just the first 10 (early reconstructions) or all 1,894 eigenvectors (full reconstructions), and asked human participants to categorise the images. We found that people could categorise the images with either the early or full reconstructions. Therefore, people could learn to distinguish category membership based on the reduced set of dimensions obtained from SVD. This suggests that a dimension reduction mechanism analogous to SVD may be operating when people learn about the structure and regularities in complex categories

Engaging People with Energy Efficiency: A Randomised Controlled Trial Testing the Effects of Thermal Imaging Visuals in a Letter Communication

The study tested the effect of adding visualisations to a communication to engage householders with an energy efficiency programme. External wall insulation is an appropriate way of insulating homes, yet take-up is low. Householders may be unaware of the heat loss from uninsulated walls. In earlier research, seeing thermal images prompted the uptake of simple energy efficiency actions amongst householders. Thermal images were added to a standard letter to visualise heat transfer from a home before and after external wall insulation had been installed. A randomised controlled trial tested three types of letter (standard, standard plus thermal image showing problem, standard plus thermal images showing problem and solution) in 5483 UK households. The target outcome was the rate of telephone enquiries after exposure to the letters. Enquiry rates were low (1.6%) and did not differ between letter type. We discuss the null effect in relation to the target action (external wall insulation), the manner of presentation of the visuals (mass communication, letter through the door) and the ingredients of a persuasive intervention. Findings suggest that taking a key ingredient from an intervention and applying it in a different context may result in the loss of its impact.</jats:p