Bristol Green Doors runs educational events to inspire, encourage and enable domestic green refurbishment in our community and support others to do the same.
Our aim is to 'normalise domestic retrofit for sustainability’ enabling this kind of work to become the straightforward, natural choice for any building work done on our homes.
In the long term, this will help to ensure all home improvements contribute to achieving the highly energy efficient, low carbon housing stock we need to tackle climate change.
Since 2010 our activity has been carried out through peer-to-peer learning at green open homes events. We have been described as “UK leaders in green open homes activity”.
As of 2018, Bristol Green Doors is led by the Bristol-based charity, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE, registered charity 298740) with funding from government as part of a new initiative called Futureproof.
Futureproof offers homeowners and contractors in the West of England a much needed independent, impartial and supportive service to help them carry out energy saving home improvements and refurbishments with confidence.
- For homeowners, this means help finding the right solutions for your home, taking the hard work and uncertainty out of finding a contractor and getting a quote, as well as checking the work is done to a high level of quality.
- For local building companies we're supporting you with training to develop low carbon knowledge and the skills required to undertake deep retrofits that deliver on performance.
Green open homes events play a crucial role in enabling homeowners to experience real world examples of low-carbon measures in a setting which reflects their home, whilst providing the opportunity to obtain impartial and informal advice from the home owner; ‘Who did the work?’; ‘How did you find the experience?’; ‘Would you do it again, use them again, make any changes?’.
As so many of our homes are old, the use of measures such as draught-proofing and insulation, and technologies such as solar PV and smart meters are important. They make the homes energy smart, more comfortable, cleaner for the environment and cheaper to heat.
We want to see everyone living in comfortable and healthy homes that they can afford to heat and don’t contribute to climate change. By changing behaviour, improving energy efficiency and generating energy locally we believe this is possible for the majority of the UK’s housing stock.
- These last few years have seen rising fuel costs, squeezing household incomes and affecting those most on low and fixed incomes.
- Under heated homes are unhealthy and uncomfortable to live in.
- In the vast majority of cases heating our homes, as well as cooking and using electricity for lighting and other amenities, generate carbon dioxide emissions, which are the single largest cause of climate change.
Please note:
- Bristol Green Doors can not offer advice on retrofitting, we let the householders speak for themselves.
- For free advice on domestic energy use to householders in Bristol, Somerset and South Glos, call the CSE Home Energy Team on 0800 082 2234
For more information on our journey see these resources
- 2019: Futureproof launched with Bristol Green Doors open homes weekend
- 2015: Closing Doors on Green Open Homes Events? - Full Version
- 2015: Closing Doors on Green Open Homes Events? - Executive Summary
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