54 G. GoGGINS ET AL.
Framing the Energy Challenge
As the project focused on low-income households, the TEA primarily focused on framing energy in financial terms, for example ‘save
on your energy bills’. Broader environmental implications of saving
energy were also discussed with participants. Topics of comfort or
health related to energy use were not addressed, however these were
subsequently recognised as important factors that might be targets
for future projects. From the participants’ perspective, energy was
framed in terms of expensive energy bills, and discussion about the
lack of support from government would arise from time to time in the
Forums. The implementers reported that trying to focus specifically
on energy in social housing presents a challenge, as people have lots of
other issues in their lives that they need to deal with, and energy is not
often a priority. Hence, one of the challenges was that householders
would tend to voice other issues affecting them in the community or
housing estate, as they had no other platform in which to voice their
concerns.
SHARE Project Impact
While there were no studies conducted of the environmental or monetary impact of the project, 85% of participants reported the training
to be ‘very useful’, 15% found it to be ‘fairly useful’, with no participant indicating that the training was ‘of no use’. The average feedback rating given by 89 participants was 4.5 (out of 5). As there was
no consumption data recorded, it is difficult to determine whether
there were significant, or any, changes in energy use in the long term.
However, the project was successful in bringing together a range of
actors that influence the consumption of energy in social housing,
and promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange between these
stakeholders. Although the energy challenge was framed in financial terms, the initiators understood energy use as an outcome of
complex interactions between different activities, professions and
sectors. The project involved several methods of intervention, and
promoted the sharing of responsibility between multiple actors including householders, social housing project designers, implementers and
government.
Framing the Energy Challenge
As the project focused on low-income households, the TEA primarily focused on framing energy in financial terms, for example ‘save
on your energy bills’. Broader environmental implications of saving
energy were also discussed with participants. Topics of comfort or
health related to energy use were not addressed, however these were
subsequently recognised as important factors that might be targets
for future projects. From the participants’ perspective, energy was
framed in terms of expensive energy bills, and discussion about the
lack of support from government would arise from time to time in the
Forums. The implementers reported that trying to focus specifically
on energy in social housing presents a challenge, as people have lots of
other issues in their lives that they need to deal with, and energy is not
often a priority. Hence, one of the challenges was that householders
would tend to voice other issues affecting them in the community or
housing estate, as they had no other platform in which to voice their
concerns.
SHARE Project Impact
While there were no studies conducted of the environmental or monetary impact of the project, 85% of participants reported the training
to be ‘very useful’, 15% found it to be ‘fairly useful’, with no participant indicating that the training was ‘of no use’. The average feedback rating given by 89 participants was 4.5 (out of 5). As there was
no consumption data recorded, it is difficult to determine whether
there were significant, or any, changes in energy use in the long term.
However, the project was successful in bringing together a range of
actors that influence the consumption of energy in social housing,
and promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange between these
stakeholders. Although the energy challenge was framed in financial terms, the initiators understood energy use as an outcome of
complex interactions between different activities, professions and
sectors. The project involved several methods of intervention, and
promoted the sharing of responsibility between multiple actors including householders, social housing project designers, implementers and
government.