A Winchester climate group is looking for home owners to take part in a scheme to reduce energy use from their properties.
Stuart Mills, from WinACC gave a presentation to Winchester Town Forum about how homes can be adapted with a process called retrofitting.
The process involves a home being assessed to find out how it can be adapted to improve energy efficiency.
Mr Mills said: “Retrofit is about adapting existing buildings to reduce and change energy use. This can be done by insulating it better to reduce heat used. Also to change the type of energy such as gas to electric and solar panels.
“A climate emergency was declared by the city council in 2019, with a target of zero carbon in Winchester by 2030. A lot of work has to take place to reduce carbon footprint.”
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Councillors were told that the scheme, called Winchester area SuperHomes, aims to retrofit 125 homes and have another 25 set up as showhomes to demonstrate the work that could be done to a property.
The fee for retrofitting is £500, however grants are available for those on low and middle incomes.
Mr Mills said that a total of 70 homes had signed up so far and they have a target of 150.
Cllr Lucille Thompson asked how many of the 70 homes were show homes.
Mr Mills said: “We're in the process of assessing around five properties that have been through retrofit. For us, that's the key pert of the project, showing people what can be done.”
Chair of the town forum, Cllr Kathleen Becker, asked how may of the current homes were on low or middle income.
Mr Mills said: “We have struggled to recruit low income home owners. People on universal credit usually don't own their own homes. Out of the 70 which have been retrofitted, three are on universal credit and another 13 are in the middle income range.”
For more information about Winchester area SuperHomes, visit: www.superhomes.org.uk/Winchester.
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