Mapping communities and neighbourhoods for local carbon reductions

Panel: 3. Local action and national examples

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Rajat Gupta, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
Rohini Cherian, Oxford Brookes University, School of Architecture, United Kingdom

Abstract

The recent local energy assessment fund (LEAF) in the UK has enabled over 230 low carbon community organisations to work with the private and academic sector to understand and reduce the amount of energy that is used in buildings. This has helped communities prepare for policy mechanisms such as the national Green Deal programme which aims to improve existing housing and non-domestic buildings by offering up-front loans to be repaid by energy savings.

This paper presents the role and application of a unique carbon mapping approach, which has enabled a local community evaluate the potential for improving the energy efficiency of their housing stock, rapidly, and on a house-by-house level, using a case study neighbourhood in the town of Bicester (Oxfordshire, UK). DECoRuM®, an award-winning GIS-based carbon counting model is used to measure, model, map and manage energy use and CO2 emission reductions from 374 houses in the Highfield neighbourhood area of Bicester, resulting in community-wide estimates of current carbon emissions and an evaluation of potential refurbishment interventions based on a combination of best practice energy saving measures, and low carbon technologies.

Incremental packages of energy saving measures are analysed for their impact on energy consumption, fuel costs and CO2 emissions to reveal the potential for large-scale refurbishment in the local area. Eligibility for Green Deal ‘equivalent’ package is also tested to show that 69% of homes in the neighbourhood are suitable for the funding. The results are visualised and fed back to the community using colour-coded spatial maps. Furthermore targeted door-step marketing is undertaken by the community organisation to encourage the uptake of loft and cavity wall insulation in homes which do not have them. Findings from this study are relevant for policy-making and practitioners engaged in the area of large-scale area-based domestic carbon reductions.