energy modelling and mapping
Sustain's energy modelling and mapping services are designed to help housing providers manage strategic energy efficiency improvements in their housing stock, by providing a combination of data management, specialist energy analysis, and web-based mapping.
energy efficiency
In order to take informed decisions on energy efficiency and carbon reduction management, housing providers need a good understanding of the current state of their stock, the improvement options which are open to them, and the cost and impact of these measures. Sustain's approach is to achieve this by using standard asset management data to model baseline values for a range of energy management indicators, including SAP, fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and fuel poverty.
However without accurate and comprehensive data, any estimate of energy-related indicators will have limited value. Sustain's expertise in data management allows us to work with you to assess the quality of your asset management data before undertaking any analysis. We can help with the process of bringing data up to standard, drawing on existing data sources or carrying out sample surveys where required, ensuring that further calculations are based on a sound data foundation.
To help plan your long-term strategy, we then profile the impact of a range of potential improvement measures such as insulation, boiler replacement or solar PV on the baseline figures for SAP and other indicators, typically identifying potential for improvements in average SAP values of over 20%.
mapping
As well as being summarised in a spreadsheet, we also publish the results on a web-based map, allowing users to browse, search and filter the data. This means that data is easily accessible without the need for specialist software, and the property stock map can be updated as new data becomes available. Standard tools and data formats are used, ensuring that outputs can be integrated with your own GIS systems if necessary, and access to the maps is managed in such a way as to ensure that data remains secure. Mapped data is aggregated to an appropriate level of resolution, from individual buildings to an area-based map. Users select individual data layers to be displayed, and can drill down to detailed data as required.
This approach also allows data from disparate sources to be combined, so that your own data can be combined with external sources including Census data, fuel poverty statistics, or Governmental data on energy consumption.
Our energy modelling and mapping capability is flexible - we can provide an end-to-end service, or individual components as required. For example, our mapping application can be used to publish your existing data using a connection to your existing asset management software, or we can support your data management improvement programme in preparation for your own energy efficiency estimation.
fast track approach
We appreciate that for some housing providers, a full stock-wide SAP estimation process is not appropriate, and a quicker and lower cost option is required. We've developed a 'fast track' approach to energy management which contains many of the key features of the full service. While SAP itself is not included, this approach produces an estimated energy demand figure for all your properties, and will model the impact on this figure of key improvements such as insulation and boiler replacement where appropriate. The service includes Sustain's web mapping application and a standard package of energy-related data, so the results can be mapped alongside relevant data from the public domain, and from your own databases.
