Government recognition for research evaluating low carbon communities

Friday, 21 February 2014

A research project led by Oxford Brookes has been held up as an example of key work in a Government report on energy.

Research being led by Professor Rajat Gupta, as part of the Evaluating Low Carbon Communities (EVALOC) project, was highlighted in the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) Community Energy Strategy.

The report looks at the benefits of putting communities at the heart of energy policy, of which EVALOC is an excellent example. It notes that “the researchers have developed a robust approach to evaluating the impacts and effectiveness of community-led renovations of homes and behaviour change initiatives on household energy use.”

Speaking about the project, Professor Gupta said: “EVALOC is an exciting, novel and collaborative four-year project. We are undertaking community-led action research and a programme of household level monitoring and evaluation. We are building on the experience of a number of professional researchers, as well as the experience and knowledge in communities and we hope to make a real difference to energy use and carbon emissions.”

The EVALOC project will be developing a Community Energy Toolkit that includes materials and guidance for energy projects. The toolkit also includes methods for monitoring and evaluation of household energy use as well as carbon mapping tools to help groups identify, action and monitor energy projects in their communities.

Further information is available on the dedicated EVALOC webpages. The DECC report can be read online.