SFHA Carbon Portal

The Scottish Government has set well-publicised, challenging short-term national CO2 emission reduction targets, supporting UK commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. These targets challenge the energy efficiency performance of domestic housing and there is a commitment under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act to reduce emissions by 42% by 2020.

The SFHA is leading an innovative, collaborative Pilot Project in partnership with key specialist organisations in support of a number of our Housing Association members to make their own contribution towards delivery of the targets. If the Pilot Project is successful, this could potentially pave the way for a national-scale initiative that could scale up the benefits to tenants (in terms of lower fuel bills) as well as to the environment. The Scottish Government is funding the thermal imaging of the stock and portal development and the housing association partners will look to access CERT funding to meet the majority of the property insulation costs.

The Pilot Project is being planned to run for a 15 month period and will consist of 4 key workstreams:

1. Thermal imaging by a Scottish company, IRT Surveys of Dundee, of 10,000 Housing Association properties, of various types, using already proven visual and quantitative methods that the Company has developed to target housing that can benefit most from insulation. These properties will be drawn from the stock of the 3 Housing Association partners taking part in the Pilot, Dunedin Canmore, Cairn and Clyde Valley.
2. Installation of cavity wall, loft and/or hot water tank insulation in around 1,000 houses, prioritised cost-effectively on the basis of the gains in carbon emissions achievable as assessed via the thermal images. This work would attract an additional share of CERT funding to Scotland in respect of insulation improvements, with installation work scheduled for completion by the end of November 2010.
3. Collation and presentation of energy management information created from the thermal imaging data, pre-and post-insulation work, in a web-based reporting format. This information would also be capable of aggregation (e.g. by RSL, Local Authority area, property type, etc.) to enable effective management and prioritised programmes of work to progressively manage the reduction of fuel consumption and carbon emissions from housing across Scotland.
4. Follow-up thermal imaging of the insulated properties by IRT Surveys in December 2010, and re-measurement of the energy efficiency to quantify the reduction in carbon emissions achieved.

Media Coverage

1. 10,000 Scottish Homes Scanned to Tackle Global Warming

2. Thermal imaging scheme aims to reducing heating costs

3. Housing Policy debate

Update June 2011

Carbon Portal Phase 2 - Expressions of Interest