Low-income consumers appear to have considerable apathy to switching energy tariffs, despite potential savings and health benefits, in part due to their complex lives in which switching is not a priority. An independent, one-on-one, personalized ‘intervention’ encouraged switching, particularly...Read more
The UK Government has policy goals for increasing energy efficiency in existing homes. However, there are doubts that standard technology and behavioural innovations will be adopted widely enough in time to achieve the targets. Diffusion of innovation theory states that the communication of...Read more
Energy efficiency obligations (or white certificates) are increasingly used to reduce carbon emissions. While the energy efficiency obligations were originally intended as carbon reduction and not fuel poverty policies, due to recognition of the potential for regressive outcomes they often...Read more
The Department of Social Policy and Social Work and the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York have been awarded a grant by eaga Charitable Trust to investigate the relationship between fuel poverty and disability. This first project deliverable considers the relationship between...Read more
This qualitative study used in-depth individual interviews with older people (n=50) and health and social care staff,(n=25), alongside six focus groups with 43 participants and a consultation event. Temperatures were measured in the homes of the older people interviewed. The data indicated a...Read more
Recent audits have shown that anti-fuel poverty policies in the UK depend on loosely defined targeting and cannot accurately identify fuel poor households. New methods of targeting are necessary to improve fuel poverty policy. This paper uses Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to...Read more
This study found that older people who were in fuel poverty or who did not live in a home they owned had significantly worse respiratory health as measured by peak expiratory flow rates. After accounting for covariates, these factors had no effect on any other measures of respiratory health....Read more
This paper presents findings from a study of low-income households in Great Britain which explored households’ strategies for coping both with limited financial resources in the winter months, when demand for domestic energy increases, and, in some cases, with cold homes. The study combined a...Read more
Whilst the technical challenges of solid wall insulation (SWI) are widely acknowledged, there has been little exploration to date of the human barriers to uptake. These are likely to be substantial, given the disruption involved and the impact of measures on building appearance. To help address...Read more
