When Russell Smith was retrofitting his own home in 2005, he had a lot of research to do into how his house was performing, what its energy needs were and what the most cost effective solutions might be. As he worked on it and developed a spreadsheet to investigate, he realised that this was useful information for others to learn from. It grew into a business, Parity Projects, now part of a larger company called Cotality.
Cotality provide building analysis to inform retrofits, and they have a ‘digital twin’ of every single home in the UK. Using their software, you can optimise that home for energy use, and work out the best ways to retrofit it. The main customers for this service are social housing companies and local authorities, with over two million homes managed this way.
A guided retrofit cuts carbon emissions, and makes homes warmer and healthier. It also saves money, cutting costs for the nine million households in the UK who are living in fuel poverty. The many co-benefits of retrofits, across so many homes, won Cotality the Ashden Award for Outstanding Achievement at this year’s awards, and here’s the video that was shown on the night:
Want to look into retrofitting your own home? Have a look at the not-for-profit National Retrofit Hub or Ecofurb, both of which are projects that Russell Smith is also involved in.
The Earthbound Report 