Cumbria is a large and sparsely populated county, which has traditionally made it a challenging place to set up wide-ranging schemes to install insulation and other efficiency measures in homes. Cumbria Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (CEEAC) has been successful in marketing the advantages of energy efficiency, arranging funding for discounts on installations, and thenmanaging contractors to deliver a rapid, high-quality service to the customers. In the past two years this has resulted in the insulation of over 9,200 cavity walls and 5,300 lofts and a range of other measures. The result is savings of over 12,500 tonnes/year of CO2, over £1.6 million/year in reduced fuel bills for the households involved, and homes that can be comfortably and affordably heated in the winter.

The two factors that have been most important to the success of CEEAC are funding and contractor management. CEEAC secures funding from a wide range of sources, which allows it to offer varying levels of discounts to everyone in a target area, rather than just to those who are worst-off financially. There has also been great effort to identify good contractors to carry out the installations, and set up a stringent quality control process to ensure that the work is of a high standard, and any problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Cumbria EEAC represents an example of best practice in implementation of energy efficiency schemes for householders in the UK.

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The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy