CHEESE could help you save the planet

stgeorge&redfieldvoice

January, 2019

CHEESE could help you save the planet

AN AWARD-WINNING not-forprofit project is helping residents of Bristol to save energy, money and carbon in their homes.

The Cold Homes Energy Efficiency Survey Experts (C.H.E.E.S.E) project is a Community Interest Company and the only project in the UK that provides low-cost or free in-depth thermal imaging heatloss surveys of homes and other buildings.

A C.H.E.E.S.E survey allows people to see where cold is getting in, and warmth is getting out and use this information to make effective changes.

The project is in its fourth year and during this time people have had C.H.E.E.S.E surveys for all kinds of reasons. These include reducing their energy bills, to be warmer in Winter, to stop wasting energy, to save carbon, and to understand how their home is made or how well their renovations have been done.

You can be a tenant or a home owner and can arrange the survey directly with C.H.E.E.S.E via the company’s website, or request one through your landlord.

Council or housing association tenants have used the films of their C.H.E.E.S.E surveys as evidence of where problems are. This has prompted landlords to take action sometimes after waiting for months or years for work to be done.

Using thermal imaging technology, developed especially for C.H.E.E.S.E, trained Energy Tracers (surveyors) make a film of the inside of the home, walking around with the householder, capturing the images with the camera, and recording the Energy Tracer's commentary and discussion about the specific areas where cold is getting in, and heat is escaping.

It also reveals the temperature of cavity walls, floors or ceilings, which shows the cold areas where insulation

is missing or there are gaps. The homeowner keeps the film of the survey which they can watch again and again as they choose what work to get done.

According to the company, low-cost DIY measures can often have the greatest positive impact. The Energy Tracers can advise on the best measures you can take to make an immediate difference. The company claims that by choosing the most effective measures, which are generally the inexpensive ones, you can often recoup what the measures cost within one year.

After the survey C.H.E.E.S.E will record the customer’s energy costs and then follow up a year later to see what they have done to their property as a result of the survey and how much energy and money has been saved.

“We are working with community partners to make C.H.E.E.S.E surveys accessible to all Bristol residents, from vulnerable households in fuel poverty where every penny matters, to those in large houses where people may not think about how much they're spending or how much they're wasting,” said Maddy Longhurst, Survey Manager at the C.H.E.E.S.E Project.

“Our partners include Centre for Sustainable Energy WHAM project, Re:Work, Buzz Lockleaze, and others, and you can ask for a survey referral through many other local community services.

“We all have a responsibility, and an opportunity to keep ourselves healthy in our homes and to reduce our city's carbon footprint by addressing our own energy consumption at home. C.H.E.E.S.E surveys are an important part of making this happen for each of us.”

For more information, visit: www.cheeseproject.co.uk