This post reflects energy saving behaviours in the home. At BuilderScrap.com we want to inform our readers, builders and Contractors how the regular public (taken from a sample) feel about those energy saving devices in the home.

What is a water meter?

A water meter is a device that records the amount of water being used in your home for billing purposes, similar to your gas and electricity metering. Your water company checks your water meter to calculate how much to charge you.

Should I get a water meter?

If you have a water meter fitted your charges would be based on the amount of water you use, rather than being a fixed amount each year based on the rateable value (RV) of your property.

Any savings depend on how much you pay now and how much water you use.

At the time of the survey a third (33%) of respondents said they lived in homes with water meters, 63% lived in homes without a meter and 4% indicated that they did not know if there was a water meter in their home. To ensure an accurate response, respondents were given a description of what a water meter was if they were unsure. Compared with the 2007 Defra survey, the proportion of people living in homes with water meters appears to have increased slightly (from 29% in 2007).

The BuilderScrap.com team love this type of post. They keep us grounded on public attitudes to energy conservation and environmental issues

The survey asked respondents to indicate how many light bulbs, including energy saving light bulbs, they had in their home. The mean average for the total number of light bulbs per home was estimated to be 20 per home which is consistent with research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust in February 2008 (which indicated a mean number of 19 light bulbs per home).

Note
8 Light bulbs, cars and most electrical appliances (e.g. refrigerators, stoves, washing machines) carry the EU Energy Label. The energy efficiency of the product is rated in energy levels ranging from A to G on the outside label. ‘A’ stands for the most energy efficient and ‘G’ for the least energy efficient.

The mean number of energy saving light bulbs per home was just over half this number (12) indicating that in an average home around 60% of the light bulbs were energy saving light bulbs. Comparisons with research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust in February 2008 and the 2007 Defra survey data indicate that the average proportion of energy saving light bulbs in people’s homes is increasing. In 2007 the equivalent figure was reported as 4 energy saving light bulbs per home, increasing to a reported 7 per home in February 2008 (and 39% of all bulbs). This is shown in Table 13. The 2007 question only asked for an estimate of the number of energy saving light bulbs in the home.

Energy Saving Lightbulbs

I’m sure we all know about recycling. Now let us see how much the general public know about Energy Saving! Here at BuilderScrap.com we want encourage Interdependence and the merits of both.

Respondents to the Defra survey who had bought an appliance in the last twelve months were asked if they had looked for the Energy Saving Recommended logo on it. This logo was developed by the Energy Saving Trust to help consumers identify the most energy efficient products available. Respondents who had bought more than one appliance in the last twelve months were asked this question in relation to one of these which was selected randomly. In the 420 purchases covered by the survey, the purchaser claimed to have looked for the logo in 71% of these, while in 24% the purchaser had not. In the remaining 5% of purchases the respondent did not know whether they had looked for the logo. A tracker survey carried out by the Energy Saving Trust in August 2007 showed that the logo had been looked for in 60% of purchases, showing an increase in the proportion of purchasers reporting that they are looking for the logo.

Respondents who had bought an appliance in the last twelve months were also asked whether the appliance they bought had the Energy Saving Recommended logo on it. In the 420 purchases covered by the survey, 72% of appliances were claimed to carry the logo (1% higher than the 71% of purchasers who had looked for the logo). The results suggest that most purchasers who reported that they had looked for the logo thought that it was on the appliance they bought. The tracker survey in August 2007 showed that the logo was said to be present on 62% of appliances purchased. It is possible that there is some confusion between the EU (A-G) label 8, which was not asked about, and the Energy Saving Recommended label, which only covers the most energy efficient products.

Not sure about you guys think but I’m sure any salesmen worth his salt would have pointed this logo out. The Government could do more to let people know about this label and what it actually means.

Here at BuilderScrap.com we’re looking at respondents’ purchases of appliances and whether being “Energy Saving Recommended‟ had been a factor in purchases. The purpose of this the BuilderScrap blog isn’t just to help you guys save on construction costs, but to help home owners make informed decisions relating to the environment.

Respondents were presented with a list of seven household appliances and asked which, if any, they had bought in the last twelve months. As shown in Table 12, a third (32%) of respondents had bought at least one of these appliances, with the most common purchases being a washing machine (15%), fridge-freezer (9%) or a dishwasher (8%). It was less common for respondents to have purchased a tumble dryer (6%), fridge (5%), freezer (3%) or washer-dryer (2%).

A similar question was asked on the Energy Saving Trust tracker survey in August 2007. Where comparisons are possible the proportion who had bought each appliance in the last twelve months was fairly consistent, although there had been a small, but statistically significant decrease in the proportion of respondents who had bought a fridge-freezer.

We think that’s because its been really cold!

At BuilderScrap.com we’re looking at the way Home builders can you help you guys save energy. The survey asked respondents if they had or had considered installing various energy-generating items in their homes. The four items covered are shown in Table 11 with a summary of responses to these questions.

As shown in the table above, very few people have installed any of the five items (1% or less in each case). This is consistent with the 2007 Defra survey – which found less than 1% of those surveyed had installed solar panels, solar water heating or a wind turbine, and with The Energy Saving Trust‟s tracker survey in February 2008 – which found less than 1% had biomass heating.
Furthermore, the proportion who said they were contemplating installing each of the items was low. Around one in ten (12%) claimed to be contemplating installing solar panels, with a similar proportion (10%) claiming to be contemplating installing solar water heating. Smaller numbers said they were contemplating installing either a wind turbine (5%) or a ground source heat pump (3%).

For all five of the items the majority of respondents were either at the pre-contemplation stage (having never heard of the item or having not given it any consideration) or having rejected it as an option. Respondents were least likely to have contemplated installing biomass heating or a ground source heat pump – 65% and 58% of respondents respectively fell into the pre-contemplation category for these behaviours (with a high proportion stating that they had not heard of either of these). At least half of respondents had rejected the idea of installing solar panels (55%), solar water heating (50%) or a wind turbine (58%).

All respondents who had installed at least one of these items at their homes were asked what were the main reasons they had done this, though as so few people had installed the items the base sizes were too small to support any analysis.

More from BuilderScrap.com on the recent Defra Survey. As a Builders Exchange we’re absolutely positive that you guys will know how well insulated your homes are…. check out the responses.

The survey also looked at home insulation. Again responses can be classified using the stages of change response scale. It should be noted that some respondents will have installed insulation or double glazing themselves but in many cases others will have moved into a property that already had insulation or double glazing. The group classified as “maintenance‟ in Table 7 includes both types of case.

It was most common for respondents (for whom it was practicable or relevant) to have already installed double glazing (89%) or loft insulation / top-up loft insulation (82%). Very few people were at the pre-contemplation stage (i.e. had either not heard of it or had not thought about doing this) or the rejection stage (i.e. had thought about it doing but had dismissed the idea). One in ten (10%) indicated that they were contemplating installing loft insulation or top-up loft insulation and 5% indicated that they were contemplating installing double glazing.

In the 2007 Defra survey a slightly higher proportion (94%) of respondents with lofts indicated that they had loft insulation. Similarly in tracker research carried out by the 28 Energy Saving Trust in August 2007, 94% of respondents indicated that they had at least some double-glazing, which is slightly higher than the 2009 survey. However, the question wording on these previous surveys was slightly different which may explain the apparent change – it seems improbable that the prevalence of loft insulation or double-glazing would have decreased over this period. In previous surveys respondents were asked simply whether they had any loft insulation in their home whereas in the current survey respondents were asked to respond using the stages of change scale described in this report.

Slightly more than half (57%) of those whose homes were constructed with cavity walls, had cavity wall insulation and around half of all respondents had draught exclusion for doors and or windows installed (46%). These levels are consistent with findings from previous research. The 2007 Defra survey showed that 59% of people in England who lived in homes with cavity walls had at least some cavity wall insulation. Research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust showed that 46% of people in England had draught exclusion in their homes. A relatively high proportion (19%) of respondents were at the pre-contemplation stage of installing draught exclusion suggesting that for many this was not something that they had considered.

Slightly more than one in ten (12%) of those whose homes were constructed with solid walls had solid wall insulation. Respondents were much more likely to be at the pre-contemplation stage for this behaviour – 31% were at this stage, indicating that a high proportion of those whose homes were constructed with solid walls “hadn’t really considered‟ this type of insulation. A relatively high proportion (21%) of respondents had rejected solid wall insulation as an option. There was also a high proportion of unclassified respondents due to people saying that this question was “not applicable‟ to them or because they did not know (31% of whose homes were constructed with solid walls).

Do you know about the construction of your own home?