Ove Arup Foundation

In 2006 The Ove Arup Foundation agreed to grant £6,000 to the Climate Outreach Information Network (COIN). The grant is helping fund development of a new website dedicated to providing comprehensive information and advice to owner-occupiers wishing to renovate their homes to the highest possible energy standards.

The website and learning network, dubbed the Ecovation Initiative, will be part-financed by the Foundation. It will create a web-based community to enable experienced or newly-persuaded eco-renovators – 'ecovators' – to share information and discuss issues and projects.

Website content will be divided into topics such as insulation, ventilation, solar and wind technologies, summer cooling, materials, lighting and water and sewerage. An advisory group has been set up to contribute initial content, and thereafter to provide expert opinion and monitor the quality and operation of the site. There will be case studies, open days and publications, and the site will be promoted within environmental and sustainable lifestyle networks.

COIN seeks to educate and inform people on the impacts and challenges of climate change. It demonstrates the practical steps people can take to reduce these impacts, as individuals and as households. COIN believes that by making small changes in the way we live, and through the application of simple technologies, we can all reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases and build a clean, just and sustainable low-carbon future.

COIN claims to be the only charity in Britain that places personal emissions reduction at the centre of its work. If the UK government's expressed target of cutting national greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 is to be achieved, the eco-renovation of owner-occupied housing will, believes COIN, be a vital focus for strategic thinking and concerted action.

For more about the work of the Climate Outreach Information Network, go to www.coinet.org.uk.