"building the business case for sustainability" - carolyn whistlecraft, sentinel housing...

Sentinel Housing Association

Carolyn Whistlecraft

Setting the scene

• What is important to your organisation?– Aligning with government targets– Leading the way/early adoption– Taking the path of least resistance/following close

behind climate change leaders– Attitudes of customers/supply chain– Local communities– Cost cost cost– Staff retention & attraction– Etc……..

Understand what others are doing

• Government targets

• Green accolades and awards that are important to your industry

• Local community projects

• Other local businesses

Understanding current position

• Carbon footprint

• Environmental audit

• Staff opinion poll on environmental attitudes

• Spending habits within industry – is there shift towards ‘greener’ products or services

For Sentinel……

‘Being a great landlord’

• value for money for residents• utilising our position of influence to effect change• Being seen as a leader and innovator within the

social housing industry• Demonstrating return on investment

– quantitative– qualitative

Government Targets

• Reduce carbon emissions by 18% (on 2008 levels)

• Reduce CO2 emissions from homes by 29% • 15% of all energy to come from renewables• 30% of all electricity to come from renewables• Reduce gas usage by 27%• Reduce emissions from the workplace by 13%• Ending of fuel poverty

Sentinel’s areas of focus

• Reducing our operational footprint

• Works to our existing homes

• Development & delivery of new homes

• Partnership working and promotion

SHA targets 2010-2013

• Reduce operational carbon footprint by 10% per employee

• Reduce the average footprint per home by 15%

• Average home sap score of 74 or C grade energy rating

• Generate customer energy savings of £400k

Benchmark

• Targets incorporated into corporate plan• Carbon footprint and targets published

online:http://www.sentinelha.org.uk/downloads/Carbon%20footprint%20-full%20FINAL.pdf

Operational Footprint

• Smart metering for real time energy monitoring• Timer devices to turn off electrical equipment at

night and over weekends• Boiler controls • PC’s being replaced with ‘Cranberries’• Investigating voltage optimisation• All printers set to print on both sides• Re-think green branding• Re-think Green travel league• Pages on intranet

Re-think travel

65 members of staff already have points

• Each avoided 100 miles of car journeys saves

–Diesel 34 kgCO2–Petrol 32 kgCO2

Links through staff Citrix log on

Existing Housing Stock

• Programme of Photo Voltaic panel installations to over 300 homes– £45k residents energy bill savings– 444 tCO2 savings– 9% return on projected investment

• Improved insulation to over 500 homes this year – £82k residents energy bill energy savings– 439 tCO2 savings

• Pilot programme of CHPower Boilers to 20 properties – £9k residents energy bill savings– 59 tCO2 savings

• Boiler replacement programme on 170 homes– £11k residents energy bill savings– 51 tCO2 savings

• Windows & Door replacements on 39 properties– £2.7k residents energy bill savings– 14 tCO2 savings

Overall impact - Total CO2 savings 1116 tCO2

Total customer savings £153kTotal Homes – 1089

Avg. saving per household - £140

Solar PV at Rosefield Court

ASHP at Kingsclere

Communicating to residents

• Source• Online content

– http://www.sentinelha.org.uk/videos.html• One pagers• Questionnaires• Schools

New Builds

• 338 homes developed to Code level 3– 25% lower in CO2 emissions compared to non-code

new builds

• 305 of renewables installations on SHA homes

• Average cost of energy for new homes

• SHA development in Test Valley makes up 229 of these homes

Partnership working• Hart District Council

– Local Strategic Partnership– Climate Change Officer role

• NHF Sustainability South Group

• CIH Knowledge share

• Other housing associations – Retrofit Pioneers South East Group

• Work with our contractors– Provided Eco-refurb training at no cost to contractors