Evaluation of a social housing retrofit and its impact on tenant energy use behaviour

Retrofit programmes for installing energy efficient technologies in social housing are a key part of efforts to reduce UK carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. This requires a reduction in CO2 emissions by an average of 80%, from all housing, in order to assist the UK’s long term goals. The UK’s turnover of housing stock is relatively slow compared to most developed countries and approximately 87% of the current housing stock will still be standing in 2050. Therefore, to meet carbon emissions targets, existing buildings must be refurbished or ‘retrofitted’ with technologies which reduce carbon emissions on a huge scale. The Government intends to achieve this by driving energy efficiency in households and businesses predominantly through the proposed Green Deal framework. This represents a shift in policy approach since the 2010 elections, towards a private finance and private industry approach, as rather than the previous Labour Governments predominately state managed and grant-aided social retrofit approach. The influence of the economic recession at the time of this transition is also likely to be a key driver of the Governments changing approach to financing the retrofit of millions of UK homes. Other strategies such as the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy are also intended to dove-tail with this national push to retrofit housing stock, due to reduced energy costs and increased thermal comfort. There is great potential for the proposed national retrofit mobilisation to reduce carbon emissions from homes, contribute to economic growth and provide other benefits such as the reduction of Fuel Poverty. However, the amount of energy used in homes is largely dependent on the behaviours of the occupier(s) and occupant behaviour can determine the effectiveness of retrofit programmes and thus impact on the potential of this significant mobilisation to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions from housing. Thus, occupant behaviour is increasingly recognised as a critical element to be acknowledged and addressed in order to meet carbon reduction targets, both within the literature (excluding the policy literature) by and those delivering retrofits on the ground. This research provides a unique insight into occupant energy use behaviour by evaluating a ‘live’ project to retrofit energy efficient being implemented by Gentoo Group which includes construction and social landlord roles. The literature review relevant to the research focuses on Psychological theories of behaviour and Practice Theory. This provides insights from both paradigms provide two viewpoints on behaviour: an insight into the nature of individual behaviour (Psychological theories of behaviour), and; a consideration of how the framework and structure of society (including aspects such as technology) interacts with the individual’s practices (Practice Theory). The research methodology utilised an inductive approach, underpinned by a qualitative research design. In-depth interviews were conducted before and after specific interventions (a technical intervention and informational interventions) took place, these interviews were recorded and transcriptions were thematically organised and analysed using the template analysis technique. This process first identified ‘patterns of behaviour related to energy use’ arising due the project interventions and secondly based on the frequency of these occurring, identified ‘key patterns’. The theoretical perspectives of the Psychology and Practice Theory literature were drawn on in order to contextualise the findings of the research, but it this thesis does not attempt to apply them in an empirical approach. The analysis process instead draws on specific elements from both of the disciplines to assist the interrogation of the ‘key patterns’ so they may be better explained or understood. Key findings of the research highlighted that energy use behaviour is impacted by the introduction of technology, and tenant behaviour can potentially impact on the energy saving effectiveness of retrofit projects. Significant impacts were identified specifically where tenants had an interaction with the technology being introduced and the informational intervention had no significant impact on behaviour. ‘Key patterns’ indicated several factors which influence tenant energy use behaviour and of these the barriers to retrofit effectiveness were identified as: limited access to knowledge and skills; habits preventing behaviour change to utilise introduced technologies; the quality of installation and function of the technical intervention; convenience of introduced technology potentially increasing energy use, and: the need or desire for thermal comfort. The thesis concludes that energy use behaviour is pivotal factor in determining retrofit effectiveness and that behaviour, and in particular behaviour-related barriers to retrofit effectiveness, should be acknowledged and addressed as part of the UK retrofit strategy, especially in the light emerging policies such as the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation, which intend to drive retrofit on a huge scale. Recommendations are made inform retrofit practitioners and academic and policy debates on behaviour in the context social housing retrofit, and suggestions are made for future research to explore this research area further

Timing is Everything? Organized Interests and the Timing of Legislative Activity

Different perspectives on the role of organized interests in democratic politics imply somewhat different temporal sequences in the relationship between legislative activity and the influence activities of organized interests. Unfortunately, a lack of data has greatly limited any kind of detailed examination of this sequence. We address this problem by taking advantage of the temporally very precise data on lobbying activity provided by the door pass system of the European Parliament (Berkhout and Lowery 2011). After reviewing the several different perspectives on the timing of lobbying and legislative activity, we present the data used in our analysis and then use them to consider the larger issue of what our findings can tell us about the role of organized interests in democratic politics and, more importantly, our theories of organized interests in the policy process

The effect of exercise on behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia: the EVIDEM-E randomised controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a simple dyadic (person with dementia and their main carer) exercise regimen as a therapy for the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. METHOD: A two arm, pragmatic, randomised, controlled, single-blind, parallel-group trial of a dyadic exercise regimen (individually tailored walking regimen designed to become progressively intensive and last between 20-30 min, at least five times per week).Community-dwelling individuals with ICD-10 confirmed dementia with the following: clinically significant behavioural and psychological symptoms, a carer willing and able to co-participate in the exercise regimen, and no physical conditions or symptoms that would preclude exercise participation were invited by mental health or primary care services into the study. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-one dyads were recruited to this study. There was no significant difference in Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms as measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory at week 12 between the group receiving the dyadic exercise regimen and those that did not (adjusted difference in means (intervention minus control) = -1.53, p = 0.6, 95% CI [-7.37, 4.32]). There was a significant between-group difference in caregiver's burden as measured by the Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory at week 12 (OR = 0.18, p = 0.01, CI [0.05, 0.69]) favouring the exercise group. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that regular simple exercise does not appear to improve the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, but did seem to attenuate caregiver burden. Further study to improve exercise uptake are needed

Research in Home-Care Telemedicine: Challenges in Patient Recruitment

This study reports challenges in recruiting patients for a randomized controHed trial of home-care telemedicinae. Descriptive statistics on patient eligibility for home-care telemedidne services and patient refusals for participation are provided. Frequency counts of reasons for study exclusion and participant refusal and Chi-square tests to compare race and age-related differences are given. Of 302 home-care patients reviewed, 197 (65.2%) did not meet inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for study exclusion were patients either needing \u3c2 visits per month (n = 59, 30%) or \u3e3 skilled nurse visits per week (n = 46, 23.4%). Of the eligible patients (n = 105), 79 persons (75.2%) refused participation. The most common reasons for refusals were lack of perceived addition benefit of telemedicine (n = 27, 34.2%), and that routine health care was sufficient (n = 23, 29.1%). Higher than expected proportions of patients did not meet chosen eligibility criteria or refused to participate. These results should be helpful in designing home-care telemedidne programs and clinical trials

When Reds are Redder and Blues are Bluer: Party Competition, Party Polarization, and the Changing Demand for Lobbying in the American States

Interest system density influences internal dynamics within interest organizations, how they lobby, and policy conditions. But how do political conditions influence interest system density? How does politics create demand for interest representation? We examine these questions by assessing how legislative party competition and ideological distance between parties in state legislatures affect the number of lobby groups. After stating our theoretical expectations, we examine 1997 and 2007 data on legislative competition and party polarization to assess their influence on system density. We find mixed results: Whereas politics slightly influenced the structuring of nonprofit interest communities, they seem to have not affected the structuring of for-profit interest communities or interest communities as a whole

Future Fuel Scenarios and Their Potential Impact to Aviation

In recent years fuel prices have been growing at a rapid pace. Current conservative projections predict that this is only a function of the natural volatility of oil prices, similar to the oil price spikes experienced in the 1970s. However, there is growing concern among analysts that the current price increases may not only be permanent, but that prices may continue to increase into the future before settling down at a much higher level than today. At high enough fuel prices, the aircraft industry would become very sensitive to fuel price. In this paper, the likelihood of fuel price increase is considered in three different price increase scenarios: "low," "medium," and "high." The impact of these scenarios on the aviation industry and alternatives are also addressed

Research in Home-Care Telemedicine: Challenges in Patient Recruitment

This study reports challenges in recruiting patients for a randomized controlled trial of homecare telemedicine. Descriptive statistics on patient eligibility for home-care telemedicine services and patient refusals for participation are provided. Frequency counts of reasons for study exclusion and participant refusal and Chi-square tests to compare race and age-related differences are given. Of 302 home-care patients reviewed, 197 (65.2%) did not meet inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for study exclusion were patients either needing 3 skilled nurse visits per week (n = 46, 23.4%). Of the eligible patients (n = 105), 79 persons (75.2%) refused participation. The most common reasons for refusals were lack of perceived addition benefit of telemedicine (n = 27, 34.2%), and that routine health care was sufficient (n = 23, 29.1%). Higher than expected proportions of patients did not meet chosen eligibility criteria or refused to participate. These results should be helpful in designing home-care telemedicine programs and clinical trials.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63390/1/tmj.2004.10.155.pd

Development of a haemophilia physiotherapy intervention for optimum musculoskeletal health (Dolphin trial)

Introduction: Haemophilic arthropathy is associated with muscle weakness and may be reduced prior to the onset of clinical arthropathy.Muscle weakness is strongly correlated to reduced walking distances, slower ascent and descent of stairs, and altered joint motion and forces during weight bearing activities. Our aim was to develop a muscle strengthening exercise intervention for children that could be tested in a randomised clinical trial. Methods: We conducted modified Nominal Group Technique focus groups with academic experts and specialist physiotherapists, and most importantly in consultation with patients. The exercise programme was demonstrated to five boys with haemophilia and their parents. Children and parents were asked; what they thought about the exercises and whether they could undertake them on a regular basis, where they thought the best place was for undertaking them, and how they would like to receive information on the exercise programme. They were also asked questions about how they would feel about taking part in a study testing the benefits of the exercises, issues around being allocated randomly into study groups, and what would encourage the children to continue on the exercise programme. Results: Strong consensus from physiotherapists indicated the exercise programme should include exercises focused on strength, balance, proprioception, flexibility and mobility, and a motor learning component. Families noted the best place for the intervention being carried out was at home and that twice per week would be achievable. Parents felt that in order to sustain interest and motivation, it was important to build in an incentive that would be valued by the child. They also said that in order to find out whether or not the exercise programme worked, they would not have a problem with their child being allocated into an intervention or usual care groups. Discussion/Conclusion: Engaging clinicians and patients in partnership as part of the research process enhanced the design of an exercise intervention ensuring it is acceptable and potentially beneficial for children with chronic disorders. The efficacy of a 24-session progressive exercise programme of stretching, strengthening, balance, proprioceptive and mobility using functional movement patterns is currently being tested in a randomised controlled trial