Home energy efficiency improvements can result in benefits for human health and well-being, fresh research suggests

Improving the energy efficiency within one's home can result in benefits for human health and well-being, economic productivity, environmental quality and urban development, the results of several new research projects at The University of Manchester's Urban Institute have shown.

The COMBI project ('Calculating and Operationalising the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Europe', funded by Horizon 2020) has demonstrated that energy efficiency improvements in homes in the EU could avoid up to 27500 premature deaths from indoor cold between now and 2030. The economic value of these changes could be up to €2.5 billion due to premature mortality from indoor cold, and up to €2.9 billion due to asthma morbidity from indoor dampness.

Furthermore, the complementary EVALUATE project ('Energy Vulnerability and Urban Transitions in Europe', funded by the European Research Council) found that energy efficiency is a key factor in determining levels of thermal comfort.

The project identified warm weather space cooling as a significant challenge across the Global North, in light of climate change pressures. The project recommended the establishment of a minimum standard for housing across Europe, and the banning of disconnections for consumers — such measures are clear win-win solutions in the case of fuel poverty. Given the major social and geographical differences in the incidence of fuel poverty across Europe, the project argued that many policies are best delivered at the regional level.

"Through this array of activities, we are showing that investing in the energy efficiency of residential dwellings can address the pressing challenge of climate change in many unexpected ways, beyond reducing energy demand and CO2 emissions. We have also identified the policy channels through which energy efficiency measures can reach vulnerable households — many of these involve working with local authorities and transnational bodies at the same time" said professor Stefan Bouzarovski from the Manchester Urban Institute.

HeatingSave — helping home owners save energy and money

Domestic and non-domestic customers alike can take advantage of the impressive level of energy efficiency enabled by the HeatingSave Building Energy Management System, which allows user to save 20 to 30 percent on their gas and electricity bills by optimizing consumption levels across any building, depending on its specific heat-loss profile.

Plus, the system also includes automatic occupancy detection features, allowing the temperature to be reduced to a background when areas are not used and quickly brought up to temperature when they are being used.

It's also very important to mention that HeatingSave can take an automatic decision on whether to use electricity or gas for heating during summer, and also enables users to set a night setback temperature, reducing the night heating by a few degrees to still keep 24/7 operations warm whilst saving energy and money.

If you're already interested in what HeatingSave has in store and you'd like to find out more on the matter, just get in touch, our dedicated product team will be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.