CASE STUDY


A strong emphasis on financial savings helps group members to see the positive side of taking the actions that are suggested. At the end of each meeting, the group decide on any individual or group actions they are going to try and start taking. In the final meeting, the group members fill in an evaluation of the actions they are now taking, which can be compared to the survey they completed at the start of the programme to find out whether behaviour has changed or not.


How much does it cost and how do users pay? T-Tog participants pay nothing to join the programme, but are invited to make a voluntary donation of £10 to cover the cost of the workbook, allowing future groups to be set up without any initial charge for joining. Participants do have to pay for any technology that they decide to use, although partial grant-funding for insulation was available through Cosy Devon. Allowing for the cost of developing the T-Tog programme, the cost per household to TTT to date is about £72. The incremental cost for new groups is under £25 per household, allowing for support from a facilitator and administration overheads.


What are the outcomes? Because T-Tog groups are run by the members, with the facilitator only present for the first meeting, they are a friendly and non-threatening environment in which to learn. The group members are free to decide which of the suggested actions they try, leading to a positive attitude towards changing behaviour. Learning from other group members is also an important feature, as most people have some experience or information that will be helpful to others. The groups foster a sense of ‘doing this together’, rather than each member having to find out the information on their own and motivate themselves to take action – peer support is important in the behaviour change process.


|168| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE


The energy-saving changes people made include the following, in order of decreasing carbon impact: – Installed cavity wall insulation – Installed loft insulation – Learnt how to use heating system and thermostat efficiently – Monitoring energy usage in the home – Lagging pipes and hot water tank – Installed draught proofing – Installed low- energy light bulbs – Not leaving electrical appliances on standby


Environmental benefits In a follow-up survey of the T-Tog groups, to which 63 households responded, over 80% had made new energy saving or generating improvements to their home as a result of the programme, and over 85% had changed their behaviour to save energy (some were already doing everything they could). By reviewing the surveys completed at the start and end of each T-Tog group’s series of meetings, TTT estimates that the programme so far has resulted in a reduction in CO2 emissions of 1.27 tonnes/year per household, equivalent to almost 600 tonnes/year in total over all participating households. About half the reduction is due to reduced energy use in the home, and about a quarter due to changes in transport use, with the remainder coming from changes with regard to food, water and waste. This does not include savings from the solar PV installations. There have also been environmental benefits from reductions in water use and increases in organic and home-grown food.


Future plans T-Tog is looking to engage more groups of households in Totnes, and the programme is already being rolled out to other Transition Towns across the UK.


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