Since the 1970s, energy efficiency programmes have formed an integral part of the UK's strategy to reduce energy consumption in the home. From the outset, individual programme elements, such as approaches to behaviour change, were subject to some research but programmes were often criticized for failing to achieve large-scale participation. Even now, few comprehensive and cross-disciplinary examinations of people's perceptions of existing programmes have been carried out. This thesis sought to investigate, from the homeowners' perspectives, the efficacy of these programmes: it reviewed pro-environmental behaviour change theories and identified energy programmes' key aspects before proposing an evidence-based theoretical framework for the design of future programmes. Primary data were collected from 721 homeowners participating or enquiring about current programmes by means of a questionnaire, which enabled the identification of motivating and hindering factors and programmes' features that encourage/discourage homeowners' participation. Fifty semi-structured interviews clarified issues affecting homeowners' decisions whether or not to participate. The empirical data enabled the assessment of programmes using two rating scales: the first identified the level of significance of the barriers and motivators to homeowners; the second measured how successfully homeowners felt the programmes addressed them. The results were used to develop a new framework to guide future programmes' design. The findings show that while participating homeowners are generally satisfied with the programmes, making the decision to participate is largely influenced by comprehensive and holistic communication and the availability of a wide variety of measures and economic incentives. The findings demonstrate that advice and education programmes should form an intrinsic part of the more technical programmes, which should be much more localized. Even though the empirical part of the study has been carried out before the new government initiative 'Green Deal' was introduced, the research findings have direct implications for its design and dissemination careful consideration must be given to: who will administer the programme; how the current lack of trust in programmes and funding bodies can be overcome; and how to ensure accurate two-way conversation.

With increasing concern over national green house gas (GHG) emissions, combined with the widespread economic impact of global commodities such as coal, natural gas and oil and their effect on energy prices, improving household energy efficiency can be seen as a key vehicle against which both energy emissions can be reduced and domestic GHG emissions curtailed. It is argued that factors that form the basis of choices, habits and values of individuals dictate an individual's decision to either adopt environmentally sustainable behaviour or not. This research reflects on how this specific area of energy policy is being enacted through policy and regulation, notably through one of the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) schemes, rolled out by the UK government in 2009. Although Government can play a pivotal role helping people foster more sustainable behaviour, it must do so in a manner that engages individuals and the public at large. As such, the aim is to adopt a more long term outlook towards encouraging sustainable energy use. The research reflects therefore on the results of a two-phase survey questionnaire administered to the residents of a CESP scheme in Aspley, Nottingham. The questionnaire sought to identify how tenants of energy-inefficient homes tend to behave with respect to domestic energy consumption and how their dwellings performed. This was augmented by quantitative data comprising utility bill figures gathered from the homes under investigation. This study adopts a mixed method strategy where the researcher combines both quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide comprehensive analysis of the research problem. In this research, 'before-and-after design' survey design is set up to explore the associations between variables under study. The field work survey was performed in one of the pilot CESP schemes currently under delivery in the Aspley area of Nottingham. Designed and executed in two survey phases, the first phase sought to understand residents' attitudes and behaviour and explore how this related to home energy use and performance prior to extensive energy-related upgrades to their dwellings. The second survey phase sought to examine changes - if any - in users' energy consumption behaviour and dwelling performance after their homes were upgraded to higher energy efficiency standards. This second phase also explored the possible reasons for any behavioural change depicted; whether it was due to policy uptake, information provided or means of communicating energy saving advice. The Aspley area in Nottingham is identified as one of the most deprived areas in Nottingham, besides the number of inefficient solid wall houses that are 'hard to heat'. Thus, assessing the effectiveness of policy interventions requires a clear understanding of consumer behaviour and motivations across all income groups so that the most appropriate approaches are developed. As such, it is possible that government aspirations to reduce energy consumption will go unheeded if they are inconsistent with the social and physical context of real life. Financial costs, past behaviour, social values and physical infrastructure are considered some of the most difficult barriers to changing energy behaviours. Policies need not only inform people about technological improvements that can be installed in their homes, but should also strongly encourage and incentivise them to use them efficiently. The users' energy consumption behaviour and the policy interventions will make the difference between promising policy, and policy which in fact delivers on its aims for energy efficiency and sustainability.

Reducing the consumption of electricity is one of the principal areas of current research into energy saving technologies. Within this area is the effort to reduce the demand for electricity for lighting purposes. To consider just the domestic requirements, during 2011 domestic electricity consumption in the UK was 30% of a total electricity demand of 374TWh. Of this figure of 112TWh some 13TWh were used for lighting alone. This thesis describes research made in this area, in particular the manufacture of lighting luminaires making use of High Brightness Light Emitting Diodes (HBLEDs). The thesis outlines and demonstrates a methodology for the design, testing and subsequent manufacture of complete luminaires which make suitable, low energy consumption alternatives to conventional lighting using filament lamps and fluorescent fittings. Work has been done in the areas of:Thermal management, Power supply design, Luminaire design, Performance simulation in software, 'Remote phosphor’ luminaires in which LEDs with blue light outputs are used to provide blue light which is converted to usable white light by phosphor laden acrylic plates employed in luminaires for both wavelength conversion and light diffusion, Luminaire performance measurementIt is shown that substantial savings in energy (over 50%) can be made by using HBLEDs in lighting luminaires whilst producing satisfactory lighting for a variety of purposes.

This investigation has analysed the impact on energy consumption for heating and cooling in UK housing stock, from the predicted future global warming effect, up to the 2080s. It was found that, up to the 2050s, it is likely that heating rather than cooling will remain the main source of energy use, in a pessimistic business-as-usual scenario. Micro-CHP (domestic scale combined heat and power plant) offers a medium term low carbon solution for the replacement of heating equipment. The operation of a micro-CHP unit in a time-of-use electricity tariff scenario for existing UK housing stock was simulated. The investigation analysed whether electrical export earnings could be increased by the use of feed forward control in comparison to a conventional control strategy of timed operation with optimised start, without serious compromise to fuel consumption. It has been found that the use of an auto-regressive model with exogenous input (ARX) model can adequately describe thermal characteristics of a typical house for a model based predictive controller. It was demonstrated that export earnings could be increased significantly without additional fuel consumption by accepting dynamic heating operation within a comfort range, rather than a static setpoint value. Compared to a conventional control strategy, overall CO2 emissions and peak network electricity demand were reduced. This approach increased electrical export earnings without additional fuel consumption during theoretical testing and has potential for further development. These finding confirm a positive case for utilising time-of-use electricity tariffs and could contribute significantly towards increasing the productivity of micro-CHP.