Cut The Carbon - Retrofit Winchester

Aim

Help us to reduce energy use in Winchester homes, by showing people how to retrofit their properties.

Cut The Carbon 

Retrofit Winchester

Act locally, think globally – 

help us stop the Climate Emergency

Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC) is a registered charity that has been taking action on climate change since 2008 - find out more about us at winacc.org.uk.

As well as campaigning, we help Winchester residents reduce the carbon footprint of their homes.

12% of all direct carbon emissions in Winchester District are produced by domestic gas, and another 7% from using heating oil and other fossil fuels*.

There are lots of ways to reduce carbon emissions in your home - from insulating walls, ceilings and floors to installing new technologies like heat pumps.  It’s called Retrofitting – changing your home so it needs less energy to keep warm, and changing your heating from gas, oil or solid fuel to electric.

Government grants can help homeowners, like the Green Homes Grant and the Renewable Heat Incentive which make changes much more affordable.   If we’re going to help stop the climate emergency, millions of households need to retrofit their homes as soon as possible.

But the technology is unfamiliar, and it can be confusing to know what is best to do, and how to get it done.

We want to show people in Winchester how it can be done and help as many people as possible through the process.

The first step is to have a survey carried out by a qualified Retrofit Coordinator. They look at every aspect of your home’s energy use and produce a report suggesting how it can be improved.

There is a national shortage of trained Retrofit Coordinators, and none in Winchester.

So this project will pay the training costs for one locally based Retrofit Coordinator, who will then be contracted to produce surveys for this project – and be available in this area for the future.

The Retrofit Coordinator helps the householder decide what is the most efficient and cost effective way to reduce their energy use, and their carbon emissions.  They advise on the different technologies and how to find reliable accredited installers. Above all, they manage the retrofit from start to finish.

We will show people where to find information on which grants are available, and how to apply for them.  

We will also produce a film showing how retrofits have been carried out, with lots of tips and information.  We’ll put the film on our website, along with lots of other info and links.

And to help people who find it difficult to afford a survey, we want to create a rolling fund which will provide short term loans to use to pay for a survey.  When the loans are repaid, they can be loaned out again to help more people take the first step to retrofit their home. 

To make this project happen, we need crowdfunding of £5,000 to spend on:

Retrofit Coordinator Training      £1,500

Film & Promotion                         £1,000

Rolling Loan Fund                        £1,000

Project Management                    £1,500

Your donation will have a real, practical and significant effect in helping stop the climate emergency.

We have also applied to Winchester City Council's Greener Futures Fund - if this application is successful, any crowdfunding pledge made on this platform will be match-funded by the City Council up to a maximum of £2,000.  We expect a decision on our application to be made in early March, so watch this space!

***Funding Update - Greener Futures Fund***

Winchester City Council has approved our application, which means that any donation you make will be matched pound for pound, up to a maximum total match of £2,000!  

* Emission figures from 2020 WinACC report 'Greenhouse gas emissions in Winchester District' and using Centre for Sustainable Energy data for all emissions.

This project successfully funded on 6th April 2021