H&V News reports about a new survey in the UK to get a better understanding of what British people feel about energy efficiency. Interestingly, the highest percentage has an exaggerated view about how energy efficient they are. It would be good to know how the British compare with others in Europe and globally. They probably aren’t much different, but let’s not jump to conclusions. Let us just say that these findings are very interesting and may be important in shaping how we create greater understanding about energy efficiency.
Survey reveals the average Brit lies about their energy efficiency
A new survey commissioned by Zenith Home, for Big Energy Saving Week, has revealed that 74 per cent of British people lie about their energy efficiency, stating that they are ‘Very’ energy efficient, when in fact they have no understanding of how to be energy efficient.
Whilst the majority of the British public claimed to be energy efficient, they did not know:
· How to measure their energy efficiency (66 per cent)
· How old their windows are (26 per cent)
· How old their boiler is (40 per cent);
· If they have external wall installation (47 per cent)
These statistics indicate a failure to recognise the impact of these factors on energy bills.
The survey also revealed that 46 per cent of people only turn off their appliances at the plug when they go on holiday, and a further 22 per cent never turn off appliances at the plug leading to everyday wastage that can total up to £90 per year per household.
Big Energy Saving Week is a Government Initiative that helps to raise awareness of energy efficiency. The campaign encourages people to be mindful of wasting energy for both economic and environmental reasons. Zenith Home commissioned the survey to challenge Britons to disclose just how energy efficient they really are.
Zenith Home national sales director Phil Lamb comments: “The survey’s findings reflect the general lack of understanding amongst the British public around energy efficiency. We commissioned the survey to find out the best ways to educate people and how best to advise them about saving money and helping the environment.
The most encouraging statistic from the survey found that 94 per cent of those surveyed said that they would like to be more energy efficient, for financial and environmental reasons.
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 
No difference really from people stating their food intake and amount of excercies in health surveys… And why would it be different? People want to do good and that is the driver we shold use in EE programmes.
Fully agree! But we also have to worry about complacency and people thinking they are more energy efficient than they are. I saw this in some programmes in Canada when I first started working in the field. People were given grants to insulate which they did. Then they thought that was enough! It was far from enough. Instead of being seed money to get the ball rolling, nothing more happened.
Sure. we need to follow up and I think we need to creat benchmarks so users can see how well they are doing in reality compared to their peers.
Sounds like a good idea. Now how do we do it?