NEF was founded in 1988 by Milton Keynes Development Corporation to preserve for the future benefit of the UK public some of the energy initiatives that had been undertaken within the new city.

Since 2015, it has operated the formerly independent Yougen website, targeted mainly at UK households wishing to install small-scale renewable energy measures.

[1] 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.

Until 2019, NEF occupied a purpose built low energy building designed to demonstrate some of the features that it espouses.

The building is naturally ventilated, with brise-soleils to prevent overheating in summer, and use of daylight is encouraged through light tubes ('SunPipes').

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.

This was designed to show how super-insulation could enable a 1,000m2 building to be heated from a single gas condensing boiler little larger than would be used in a typical UK home.