Papers by Robert D Marchand
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 2022
This is a repository copy of Topic selection process in health technology assessment agencies aro... more This is a repository copy of Topic selection process in health technology assessment agencies around the world : a systematic review.
ISAHP proceedings, Aug 15, 2016
Fuel poverty affects 4.5 million homes in the UK and is receiving increasing attention internatio... more Fuel poverty affects 4.5 million homes in the UK and is receiving increasing attention internationally. It has significant health, economic and social impacts, yet less than 25% of expenditure on fuel poverty reaches fuel poor homes in the UK. Current measures maintain a technical view of the issue, rejecting social factors. This paper implements an Analytic Hierarchy Process to weight qualitatively obtained social practice factors of fuel poverty in the UK. It identifies 27 social practice factors nested in four tiers that contribute to the existence of fuel poverty in the UK. It marks the first attempt to quantify social practice factors of fuel poverty. It provides a methodological approach that can be applied internationally, to incorporate qualitative evidence in a quantifiable policy model for use in citizen centred policy making which aids in the identification of novel sites for policy intervention.
People, place and policy online, Jun 11, 2020
Policies to address the impact of Covid-19 on low income energy consumers have rightly focussed o... more Policies to address the impact of Covid-19 on low income energy consumers have rightly focussed on energy bills, particularly in the context of home confinement and increased energy consumption. In the longer term, however, we need policies to improve home energy standards. The evidence shows that higher standards reduce the risk of getting a respiratory illness, improve the health of those already with a respiratory illness, improve the ability of our immune systems to fight off illness and reduce the use of health services.
Energy Policy, Jul 1, 2019
Energy Poverty and deprivation are distinct concepts in England The relationship between thes... more Energy Poverty and deprivation are distinct concepts in England The relationship between these two measures is heterogeneous across England Energy poverty policy & interventions should be designed at a local level. English Index of Multiple Deprivation needs redesigning to include energy access The methodology proposed may be useful for targeting energy poverty globally *Highlights
International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2014
Earthquake events are inevitable but the consequences of earthquake disasters are partially contr... more Earthquake events are inevitable but the consequences of earthquake disasters are partially controllable using an effective risk management system, since the seismic risk is the interaction of ground shaking intensity with the built environment. A systematic risk-based method is proposed for assessing the resilience capacities of school buildings exposed to varying levels of seismic risk. This approach screens and monitors the equivalent seismic performance of buildings by the means of new composite risk index (FSRi). The process of performance assessment of existing buildings is usually performed through walk-down surveys and associated with expert judgments which are often highly subjective. The pervasive nature of uncertainty within the risk assessment process often ignored or not completely reflected within the existing models. To handle the uncertainty associated with risk attributes, fuzzy set theory was used to characterize the uncertain qualitative information. The application of the model was applied to retrofitting school buildings in Iran. The screening results reveal that the composite risk index (FSRi) does not necessarily follow its factors' trends and therefore relying on sole factors such as hazard and vulnerability may mislead the decision making process. Therefore seismic mitigation decisions should be made in compliance with the multi dimensional aspects of seismic risk as an aggregated index rather , such as FSRi.
Fuel Poverty, defined most simply as “the inability to afford adequate warmth” (Lewis 1982, p.1) ... more Fuel Poverty, defined most simply as “the inability to afford adequate warmth” (Lewis 1982, p.1) emerged as an issue in England following the oil crisis in 1973-1974 but remained a topic of interest only to special interest groups and failed to impact upon official government policy. Following the passing of the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act (2000), the topic of fuel poverty has received increasing interest within the academic community both within England and increasingly further afield. Fuel poverty has been shown to be closely related to increased Excess Winter Deaths, morbidity and mental health issues, and is predicted to affect 2.34 million homes in England in 2015; demonstrating that despite 15 years of schemes designed to tackle fuel poverty in England, the social issue is far from being eradicated. This research develops a new approach to understanding, modelling and targeting fuel poverty in England in order to contribute to efforts to eradicate the issue. Through...
Promoting the Green Deal in low income communities 3 This work has been part financed by a seed c... more Promoting the Green Deal in low income communities 3 This work has been part financed by a seed corn funding grant from the University of Sheffield as well as further funding as a part of the Energy Innovation for Deprived Communities programme (aka BIG Energy Upgrade). The BIG Energy Upgrade project is part financed through the Yorkshire and Humber European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007-2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. To address the priority issues of job creation and carbon emissions reduction in an integrated approach, the University of Sheffield has brought together a multidisciplinary team of academics who are working alongside Local Authorities, ALMOs, social housing providers and an energy services company in delivering this project.
Services (CIC) and particularly the communities involved and engaged in The BIG Energy Upgrade. F... more Services (CIC) and particularly the communities involved and engaged in The BIG Energy Upgrade. Fuel Poverty: Perspectives from the Front Line Many policy documents and other fuel poverty literature refer to the concept of stakeholders, but with no definition of what they mean by this or who they are. Through the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives via their first hand experience of living or dealing with fuel poverty at both a practical and a strategic level a more detailed measure of fuel poverty can be developed that will not only allow future policy and interventions to be more accurately targeted towards the most needy households but also capture more precisely the impact of policies such as the Green Deal and ECO in the reduction of fuel poverty.
This paper is written against a backdrop of increasing pressure for organizations to engage with ... more This paper is written against a backdrop of increasing pressure for organizations to engage with and promote environmentally sustainable practice throughout their supply chain. As such, the interdisciplinary field of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has grown significantly in recent years and is beginning to receive significant attention in the literature (see [29][16][13] for examples) . The current paper considers the emergence of a number of novel Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools, which encourage closer collaboration with suppliers in quantifying environmental impacts at various stages of the supply chain. Following identification of ‗critical carbon hotspots‘ through LCA, a theoretical model addressing subsequent approaches to intervention and continual improvement, from a GSCM perspective, is presented by the authors. The paper reflects upon the extensive body of supplier selection literature; especially from a quantitative perspective and considers the drawbacks of organi...
Energy Policy, 2015
Against a background of growing international and national carbon reduction legislation, the UK g... more Against a background of growing international and national carbon reduction legislation, the UK government introduced the "Green Deal" to deliver a significant increase in housing energy efficiency and reduction in carbon emissions. This paper reflects on one English local authority's experience delivering a programme intended to foster local interest in the Green Deal. Drawing on social surveys and pre and post Green Deal intervention interviews with five demonstrator homes (households that applied to receive a Green Deal package fully funded by the scheme, providing a test bed for the Green Deal recruitment and installation process), this paper shows that awareness and understanding of the Green Deal scheme is low. There is opposition to the cost of finance offered but a strong interest in improving
Against a background of growing international and national carbon reduction legislation, the UK g... more Against a background of growing international and national carbon reduction legislation, the UK government introduced the “Green Deal” to deliver a significant increase in housing energy efficiency and reduction in carbon emissions. This paper reflects on one English local authority's experience delivering a programme intended to foster local interest in the Green Deal. Drawing on social surveys and pre and post Green Deal intervention interviews with five demonstrator homes (households that applied to receive a Green Deal package fully funded by the scheme, providing a test bed for the Green Deal recruitment and installation process), this paper shows that awareness and understanding of the Green Deal scheme is low. There is opposition to the cost of finance offered but a strong interest in improving household warmth and for funding improvements through payments added to the electricity bill. Demonstrator home residents perceived Green Deals had improved the warmth and quality of their home, but saving money was the primary motivator for their involvement, not increasing warmth. Whilst Green Deal has not delivered the level of success that was hoped, much can be learned from the scheme to improve future energy efficiency schemes that will be necessary to deliver emission reduction commitments.
The Green Deal is the centre of the current coalition Government’s flagship energy bill and a key... more The Green Deal is the centre of the current coalition Government’s flagship energy bill and a key component of the Government’s promise to be the greenest Government ever. It promises to provide access to the capital markets, reduce carbon emissions, stimulate economic growth and reduce fuel poverty. The introduction of this policy has already been marred by delay and controversy with many commentators questioning whether it will achieve the ambitious aims it has set out to cover.
Whilst debate in the popular press rages over the appropriateness of this policy instrument, this document draws upon research funded by the University of Sheffield and the BIG Energy Upgrade project, a £14.9 million European Regional Development Fund project, to identify the opportunities that the Green Deal provides for the local economy and provide some initial indication of how to succeed in stimulating market uptake and interest in the Green Deal amongst low income communities.
A series of focus groups were undertaken across the Yorkshire and the Humber region, with households from low income communities engaged in the BIG Energy Upgrade. Residents were asked to comment on their experiences of the BIG Energy Upgrade programme and its impacts, before being introduced to the Green Deal concept and asked to comment on it. Analysis of the data collected is ongoing, but this report presents initial insights and findings from the scheme and shows that the BIG Energy Upgrade programme has been well received, suggesting that residents living in deprived communities really feel the benefits of household energy efficiency interventions and are keen to engage with them to make energy savings.
This snapshot of residents’ comments begins to build a powerful picture of the impact of such projects on everyday lives in deprived communities. Similarly, whilst the Green Deal was not familiar to the residents, the principles behind the scheme were welcomed. The opportunity to take control of the improvements in their home and the likely benefits in terms of warmth and bill reduction interested many of the residents. However some concerns were raised over the involvement of major banks in the finance mechanism and whether low income communities would really be able to take advantage of the policy. The focus groups tentatively suggested that in order to promote the Green Deal within these communities, the personal benefits in terms of increased warmth and local pride played a greater role than any environmental or economic factors.
Further work carried out by the Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainability has highlighted concerns over the regional preparedness for delivering large scale energy efficiency interventions. Through engagement with the supply chain at a local and national level, opportunities have been identified for Local Authorities to improve their procurement practices, and develop stronger relationships with the multitude of local small and medium sized enterprises, which can bring reduced costs for intervention installation whilst boosting local employment and economic productivity.
The Green Deal provides a strong opportunity to reduce household energy bills and carbon emissions whilst increasing employment and productivity within the local and national supply chain. By preparing for any increase in demand by the private and domestic sectors, local authorities, SME’s, residents and the broader society all stand to benefit.
Fuel poverty, namely the ability for a household to afford to heat its home to an adequate standa... more Fuel poverty, namely the ability for a household to afford to heat its home to an adequate standard, is a fairly recent concept. Despite recognition of the problem in the early 20th century, it wasn’t until the late 1970’s that Fuel Poverty was recognised as a problem and not until 1997 that government officially adopted the term. With the introduction of the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act (WHECA) in 2000 (Great Britain, 2000) fuel poverty was formally defined within UK government legislation.
The prevalence of fuel poverty within the United kingdom has been exacerbated by a number a number of climatic and historical factors including the mild, temperate climate, domestic building heritage, preference for open fires and ‘fresh air’ and evolving thermal expectations. This, combined with a low turnover of buildings has resulted in over 50% of the English population living in housing built to a poor standard, with a focus on air circulation constructed prior to the introduction of thermal regulations in 1965.
A fuel poor household is currently defined as:
“...one which needs to spend more than 10% of its income on all fuel use and to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth.”
(DEFRA and DTI, 2001, p.6)
Whilst the above definition benefits from measuring modelled energy requirements, it is overly sensitive to price changes and suffers from a number of other issues and technical complications. The Townsend Centre for International Poverty research took a census-based approach to measuring fuel poverty. The report highlighted the lack of overlap between households identified as fuel poor through objective measures compared to those reported as fuel poor by subjective measurement. It also demonstrated the impact of income consideration in measuring fuel poverty, criticising the current measures approach (Fahmy et al., 2011). The Hills review also criticised this aspect of the current measure and offered a new conception of fuel poverty measuring both the extent and depth of the problem (Hills, 2011, 2012).
Fuel poverty impacts upon multiple areas of policy and is not just the concern of the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Perhaps the most significant impact is on health, with a close correlation between excess winter deaths, cardio-vascular disease, respiratory problems and mental health. As well as physical health, social health is also affected as fuel poverty alleviation reduces anti-social behaviour and other associated social ills. It also impacts on housing policy through consideration of development, housing legislation and retrofit issues. Accurate measurement of fuel poverty is vital for measurement of the success or otherwise of the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation.
Many policy documents and other fuel poverty literature refer to the concept of stakeholders, but with no definition of what they mean by this or who they are. Through the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives via their first hand experience of living or dealing with fuel poverty at both a practical and a strategic level a more detailed measure of fuel poverty can be developed that will not only allow future policy and interventions to be more accurately targeted towards the most needy households but also capture more precisely the impact of policies such as the Green Deal and ECO in the reduction of fuel poverty.
In December 2012, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council led a consortium of partners in successfu... more In December 2012, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council led a consortium of partners in successfully receiving funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change under the Green Deal Pioneer Places scheme.
The project sought to deliver 250 Green Deal Assessments, 75 Green Deal signups and 38 solid wall insulations across Barnsley. The scheme ran until 25th February 2014 and included completion of 5 show homes as well as a survey of residents and in depth pre and post intervention interviews with the 5 show homes.
As with other research on the Green Deal, the scheme demonstrated that a major barrier to Green Deal take up was the cost of finance that was not attractive to the general public and that awareness of the scheme was low. However, it also discovered that the principles of paying for improvements through the electricity bill was widely supported and that there was significant intention to make home energy efficiency improvements amongst residents.
The 5 show homes all received a personalised package of interventions that were perceived to improve the quality and warmth of the property. Whilst it was frustrating for the project that not all interventions were accepted by residents, it was a key learning point that providing flexible offerings that meet the needs and wishes of the occupants were as important to successful uptake as potential reduction in household bills. “Saving money” rather than saving energy was critical for all 5 show homes.
These findings provide some signs that with careful consideration of the financial offering provided within the Green Deal and targeted work to improve awareness of the scheme, there is a market for the type of works supported by the Green Deal. The industry and related delivery partners have developed their offering and skills and are ready to provide the skills, products and installations to support a successful Green Deal, the challenge now is to fine tune the product to meet the needs of householders, installers and the environment.
Fuel Poverty, namely the inability for a household to maintain the home at an adequate level of w... more Fuel Poverty, namely the inability for a household to maintain the home at an adequate level of warmth and at a reasonable cost, has only recently been formally accepted and adopted by the English government. The definition itself has grown from initial work in the late 1970‟s and the seminal research of Brenda Boardman in the late 1980‟s and early 1990‟s. It wasn‟t until the Labour party were elected in 1997 that the term was acceptable parlance within government and only in 2000 was any legislation introduced to tackle this social issue. Many of the drivers of fuel poverty, particularly the energy inefficiency of the English housing stock find their roots in social attitudes and policy failings dating back to the industrial revolution, with potential issues highlighted to government in 1946. We consider the development of the concept of fuel poverty and its drivers in order to explore whether the current prevalence of fuel poverty in England was an inevitable side-effect of our historical public health and housing legacy or a result of government social policy inaction. Our analysis of the extant literature shows that a combination of both of these factors is likely to have resulted in the current fuel poverty picture, however government inaction has served to unnecessarily exacerbate the current figures in England.
This study explores crisis communications in UK higher education institutions between the institu... more This study explores crisis communications in UK higher education institutions between the institution and its students. Using a case study of British universities, data is presented from interviews with university business continuity managers and student focus groups. The paper provides insights into current business continuity management practice in the higher education sector, business continuity managers' attitudes to social media as a communication tool during the incident response phase, and students' declared communication preferences.
Conference Presentations by Robert D Marchand
A presentation to the White Rose DTC Management Conference, 2nd July 2013. Leeds, United Kingdom.
An invited staff seminar at the Centre for Decision Research, Leeds University Business School, 1... more An invited staff seminar at the Centre for Decision Research, Leeds University Business School, 13th May 2014, Leeds, United Kingdom
Presentation to the Social Media and Semantic Technologies in Emergency Response Conference. 15-1... more Presentation to the Social Media and Semantic Technologies in Emergency Response Conference. 15-16 April 2013, University of Warwick, Coventry UK
A presentation to the Fuel Poverty, Housing and Health: A showcase event of research across Engla... more A presentation to the Fuel Poverty, Housing and Health: A showcase event of research across England. 12th December 2012. Sheffield, United Kingdom
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Papers by Robert D Marchand
Whilst debate in the popular press rages over the appropriateness of this policy instrument, this document draws upon research funded by the University of Sheffield and the BIG Energy Upgrade project, a £14.9 million European Regional Development Fund project, to identify the opportunities that the Green Deal provides for the local economy and provide some initial indication of how to succeed in stimulating market uptake and interest in the Green Deal amongst low income communities.
A series of focus groups were undertaken across the Yorkshire and the Humber region, with households from low income communities engaged in the BIG Energy Upgrade. Residents were asked to comment on their experiences of the BIG Energy Upgrade programme and its impacts, before being introduced to the Green Deal concept and asked to comment on it. Analysis of the data collected is ongoing, but this report presents initial insights and findings from the scheme and shows that the BIG Energy Upgrade programme has been well received, suggesting that residents living in deprived communities really feel the benefits of household energy efficiency interventions and are keen to engage with them to make energy savings.
This snapshot of residents’ comments begins to build a powerful picture of the impact of such projects on everyday lives in deprived communities. Similarly, whilst the Green Deal was not familiar to the residents, the principles behind the scheme were welcomed. The opportunity to take control of the improvements in their home and the likely benefits in terms of warmth and bill reduction interested many of the residents. However some concerns were raised over the involvement of major banks in the finance mechanism and whether low income communities would really be able to take advantage of the policy. The focus groups tentatively suggested that in order to promote the Green Deal within these communities, the personal benefits in terms of increased warmth and local pride played a greater role than any environmental or economic factors.
Further work carried out by the Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainability has highlighted concerns over the regional preparedness for delivering large scale energy efficiency interventions. Through engagement with the supply chain at a local and national level, opportunities have been identified for Local Authorities to improve their procurement practices, and develop stronger relationships with the multitude of local small and medium sized enterprises, which can bring reduced costs for intervention installation whilst boosting local employment and economic productivity.
The Green Deal provides a strong opportunity to reduce household energy bills and carbon emissions whilst increasing employment and productivity within the local and national supply chain. By preparing for any increase in demand by the private and domestic sectors, local authorities, SME’s, residents and the broader society all stand to benefit.
The prevalence of fuel poverty within the United kingdom has been exacerbated by a number a number of climatic and historical factors including the mild, temperate climate, domestic building heritage, preference for open fires and ‘fresh air’ and evolving thermal expectations. This, combined with a low turnover of buildings has resulted in over 50% of the English population living in housing built to a poor standard, with a focus on air circulation constructed prior to the introduction of thermal regulations in 1965.
A fuel poor household is currently defined as:
“...one which needs to spend more than 10% of its income on all fuel use and to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth.”
(DEFRA and DTI, 2001, p.6)
Whilst the above definition benefits from measuring modelled energy requirements, it is overly sensitive to price changes and suffers from a number of other issues and technical complications. The Townsend Centre for International Poverty research took a census-based approach to measuring fuel poverty. The report highlighted the lack of overlap between households identified as fuel poor through objective measures compared to those reported as fuel poor by subjective measurement. It also demonstrated the impact of income consideration in measuring fuel poverty, criticising the current measures approach (Fahmy et al., 2011). The Hills review also criticised this aspect of the current measure and offered a new conception of fuel poverty measuring both the extent and depth of the problem (Hills, 2011, 2012).
Fuel poverty impacts upon multiple areas of policy and is not just the concern of the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Perhaps the most significant impact is on health, with a close correlation between excess winter deaths, cardio-vascular disease, respiratory problems and mental health. As well as physical health, social health is also affected as fuel poverty alleviation reduces anti-social behaviour and other associated social ills. It also impacts on housing policy through consideration of development, housing legislation and retrofit issues. Accurate measurement of fuel poverty is vital for measurement of the success or otherwise of the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation.
Many policy documents and other fuel poverty literature refer to the concept of stakeholders, but with no definition of what they mean by this or who they are. Through the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives via their first hand experience of living or dealing with fuel poverty at both a practical and a strategic level a more detailed measure of fuel poverty can be developed that will not only allow future policy and interventions to be more accurately targeted towards the most needy households but also capture more precisely the impact of policies such as the Green Deal and ECO in the reduction of fuel poverty.
The project sought to deliver 250 Green Deal Assessments, 75 Green Deal signups and 38 solid wall insulations across Barnsley. The scheme ran until 25th February 2014 and included completion of 5 show homes as well as a survey of residents and in depth pre and post intervention interviews with the 5 show homes.
As with other research on the Green Deal, the scheme demonstrated that a major barrier to Green Deal take up was the cost of finance that was not attractive to the general public and that awareness of the scheme was low. However, it also discovered that the principles of paying for improvements through the electricity bill was widely supported and that there was significant intention to make home energy efficiency improvements amongst residents.
The 5 show homes all received a personalised package of interventions that were perceived to improve the quality and warmth of the property. Whilst it was frustrating for the project that not all interventions were accepted by residents, it was a key learning point that providing flexible offerings that meet the needs and wishes of the occupants were as important to successful uptake as potential reduction in household bills. “Saving money” rather than saving energy was critical for all 5 show homes.
These findings provide some signs that with careful consideration of the financial offering provided within the Green Deal and targeted work to improve awareness of the scheme, there is a market for the type of works supported by the Green Deal. The industry and related delivery partners have developed their offering and skills and are ready to provide the skills, products and installations to support a successful Green Deal, the challenge now is to fine tune the product to meet the needs of householders, installers and the environment.
Conference Presentations by Robert D Marchand
Whilst debate in the popular press rages over the appropriateness of this policy instrument, this document draws upon research funded by the University of Sheffield and the BIG Energy Upgrade project, a £14.9 million European Regional Development Fund project, to identify the opportunities that the Green Deal provides for the local economy and provide some initial indication of how to succeed in stimulating market uptake and interest in the Green Deal amongst low income communities.
A series of focus groups were undertaken across the Yorkshire and the Humber region, with households from low income communities engaged in the BIG Energy Upgrade. Residents were asked to comment on their experiences of the BIG Energy Upgrade programme and its impacts, before being introduced to the Green Deal concept and asked to comment on it. Analysis of the data collected is ongoing, but this report presents initial insights and findings from the scheme and shows that the BIG Energy Upgrade programme has been well received, suggesting that residents living in deprived communities really feel the benefits of household energy efficiency interventions and are keen to engage with them to make energy savings.
This snapshot of residents’ comments begins to build a powerful picture of the impact of such projects on everyday lives in deprived communities. Similarly, whilst the Green Deal was not familiar to the residents, the principles behind the scheme were welcomed. The opportunity to take control of the improvements in their home and the likely benefits in terms of warmth and bill reduction interested many of the residents. However some concerns were raised over the involvement of major banks in the finance mechanism and whether low income communities would really be able to take advantage of the policy. The focus groups tentatively suggested that in order to promote the Green Deal within these communities, the personal benefits in terms of increased warmth and local pride played a greater role than any environmental or economic factors.
Further work carried out by the Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainability has highlighted concerns over the regional preparedness for delivering large scale energy efficiency interventions. Through engagement with the supply chain at a local and national level, opportunities have been identified for Local Authorities to improve their procurement practices, and develop stronger relationships with the multitude of local small and medium sized enterprises, which can bring reduced costs for intervention installation whilst boosting local employment and economic productivity.
The Green Deal provides a strong opportunity to reduce household energy bills and carbon emissions whilst increasing employment and productivity within the local and national supply chain. By preparing for any increase in demand by the private and domestic sectors, local authorities, SME’s, residents and the broader society all stand to benefit.
The prevalence of fuel poverty within the United kingdom has been exacerbated by a number a number of climatic and historical factors including the mild, temperate climate, domestic building heritage, preference for open fires and ‘fresh air’ and evolving thermal expectations. This, combined with a low turnover of buildings has resulted in over 50% of the English population living in housing built to a poor standard, with a focus on air circulation constructed prior to the introduction of thermal regulations in 1965.
A fuel poor household is currently defined as:
“...one which needs to spend more than 10% of its income on all fuel use and to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth.”
(DEFRA and DTI, 2001, p.6)
Whilst the above definition benefits from measuring modelled energy requirements, it is overly sensitive to price changes and suffers from a number of other issues and technical complications. The Townsend Centre for International Poverty research took a census-based approach to measuring fuel poverty. The report highlighted the lack of overlap between households identified as fuel poor through objective measures compared to those reported as fuel poor by subjective measurement. It also demonstrated the impact of income consideration in measuring fuel poverty, criticising the current measures approach (Fahmy et al., 2011). The Hills review also criticised this aspect of the current measure and offered a new conception of fuel poverty measuring both the extent and depth of the problem (Hills, 2011, 2012).
Fuel poverty impacts upon multiple areas of policy and is not just the concern of the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Perhaps the most significant impact is on health, with a close correlation between excess winter deaths, cardio-vascular disease, respiratory problems and mental health. As well as physical health, social health is also affected as fuel poverty alleviation reduces anti-social behaviour and other associated social ills. It also impacts on housing policy through consideration of development, housing legislation and retrofit issues. Accurate measurement of fuel poverty is vital for measurement of the success or otherwise of the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation.
Many policy documents and other fuel poverty literature refer to the concept of stakeholders, but with no definition of what they mean by this or who they are. Through the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives via their first hand experience of living or dealing with fuel poverty at both a practical and a strategic level a more detailed measure of fuel poverty can be developed that will not only allow future policy and interventions to be more accurately targeted towards the most needy households but also capture more precisely the impact of policies such as the Green Deal and ECO in the reduction of fuel poverty.
The project sought to deliver 250 Green Deal Assessments, 75 Green Deal signups and 38 solid wall insulations across Barnsley. The scheme ran until 25th February 2014 and included completion of 5 show homes as well as a survey of residents and in depth pre and post intervention interviews with the 5 show homes.
As with other research on the Green Deal, the scheme demonstrated that a major barrier to Green Deal take up was the cost of finance that was not attractive to the general public and that awareness of the scheme was low. However, it also discovered that the principles of paying for improvements through the electricity bill was widely supported and that there was significant intention to make home energy efficiency improvements amongst residents.
The 5 show homes all received a personalised package of interventions that were perceived to improve the quality and warmth of the property. Whilst it was frustrating for the project that not all interventions were accepted by residents, it was a key learning point that providing flexible offerings that meet the needs and wishes of the occupants were as important to successful uptake as potential reduction in household bills. “Saving money” rather than saving energy was critical for all 5 show homes.
These findings provide some signs that with careful consideration of the financial offering provided within the Green Deal and targeted work to improve awareness of the scheme, there is a market for the type of works supported by the Green Deal. The industry and related delivery partners have developed their offering and skills and are ready to provide the skills, products and installations to support a successful Green Deal, the challenge now is to fine tune the product to meet the needs of householders, installers and the environment.