National Energy Foundation

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The National Energy Foundation (NEF) is an independent British charity, established in 1988 to encourage the more sustainable use and generation of energy.

Contents

Aims

The charity's mission is to mobilise individuals, businesses and communities to make their contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficiency and use of sustainable energy sources (notably renewable energy) in order to maintain affordable energy services and combat global climate change.

Activities

NEF was founded in 1988 by Milton Keynes Development Corporation in order to preserve for the future benefit of the UK public some of the energy initiatives that had been undertaken within the new city. Its initial projects included extending a technical home energy label (known as the Milton Keynes Energy Cost Index - MKECI) into a more generally applicable home energy rating called the National Home Energy Rating (NHER), and technical energy monitoring work on low energy homes in the Milton Keynes Energy Park. In 1994, the NHER Scheme was injected into a subsidiary company which still runs the business on behalf of the charity.

From 1993-2001 NEF worked closely with the Energy Saving Trust, setting up the UK's network of Energy Efficiency Advice Centres (EEACs) on their behalf, and managing the network for the first five years. But as domestic energy efficiency moved more into the mainstream, NEF expanded its interests into Renewable Energy (from 1995) and non-domestic energy efficiency, through its management of the Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme from 1998 onwards. From 2005 this scheme was owned by the Carbon Trust but still managed by NEF and in 2008 it was superseded by their Carbon Trust Standard.

Many of NEF's activities are concerned with renewable energy and, in particular, with integrating it into buildings and assisting local authorities and other bodies to create the right environment for a wider uptake of sustainable energy. It also provides secretariat functions to two trade associations. In support of these functions NEF runs a programme of training courses and educational activities, some of which are delivered through its mobile display unit, the Green Energy Machine. In 2007-8 it launched a global warming game called LogiCity, funded by the Defra Climate Challenge Programme, in an attempt to raise interest in the subject among young adults. Most of the charity's work is within the UK, although it participates in a number EU projects and has undertaken some work in SE Asia. Local and regional domestic energy efficiency activities in SE England have been handed over to the United Sustainable Energy Agency (formerly the Milton Keynes Energy Agency - MKEA). NEF also works with the Sustainable Energy Academy, managing its Old Home Superhome project which is designed to highlight energy improvements made in older UK homes.

NEF is active in promoting carbon calculators and advice tools, aimed primarily at UK consumers in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors. Its main domestic tool is known as the Carbon Workout, and it provides a simple online carbon calculator for use mainly by SMEs. It has worked with both commercial and non-profit partners in this area, and has also supported development work on the Carbon Account.

Educational Remit

As an educational charity, the Foundation seeks to ensure that its activities advance knowledge of sustainable energy, through its schools work, direct educational programmes, applied research and involvement with the web. Among its web activities, it claims to have created the first English website about energy efficiency (1996), the first WAP (wireless application protocol site) on the topic globally (1999) and one of the first global online Climate Change games (LogiCity, 2007). NEF is also supporting WikiClimate, with a particular emphasis on the energy pages.

Buildings

NEF occupies a purpose built low energy building designed to demonstrate some of the features that it espouses. Built in 2002-3, its office is heated by a Ground Source Heat Pump, with hot water being partly provided by an evacuated tube solar water heating system. There is a winter back-up heating system in the form of a wood pellet stove. The building is naturally ventilated, with brise-soleils to prevent overheating in summer, and use of daylight is encouraged through light tubes ('SunPipes'). Around a fifth of the office's energy is supplied by a 6.47kWp photovoltaic array. As well as energy features, its environmental credentials include the use of rainwater for toilet flushing and a low thermal mass sustainably sourced timber frame structure.

NEF's subsidiary company operates in an older low energy building (1999), designed to show how super-insulation can enable a 1,000m2 building to be heated from a gas condensing boiler little larger than would be used in a typical UK home.

Leadership

  • President: Dr Mary Archer
  • Chair: Brian White
  • Chief Executive: Dr Tim Lunel
  • Deputy Director: Ian Byrne

See also

Internal links to follow when constructed

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.wikiclimate.net/wiki/National_Energy_Foundation"
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