Energy Efficiency

The majority of UK homes leak heat like a sieve and are hungry for gas. In 2019, just 40% of (or 9.9 million) dwellings were in the top three tiers for energy efficiency (bands A to C). The government has committed to support as many existing homes as possible to reach band C by 2035. Upgrading a band-D home to band C would result in average annual savings of £179, while upgrading one from band E would save £594 a year. The recent surge in energy prices mean these savings are certainly underestimates. The Climate Change Committee, an expert body which advises the government, estimates that the UK will need to better insulate half its current housing stock of 29 million homes to cut emissions from homes to net zero. The annual installation of loft insulation must be 22 times greater by 2025 than in 2020. Now is the time for the government to acknowledge that record energy prices are a function of our addiction to gas and to take immediate steps to wean households off this fossil fuel. By insulating UK homes, we can also insulate households from unpredictable gas prices and spiralling bills.

The Conversation 29th Sept 2021 read more »

A Labour government would spend £6bn a year on the retrofitting of housing over the next decade as part of a wide-ranging plan to tackle climate change, the party’s leader has said.

Inside Housing 29th Sept 2021 read more »

Tens of thousands of social housing properties in Scotland are failing to meet the government’s minimum standards for energy efficiency, new data has revealed. The figures show that around one in every 15 social homes which should be meeting the standard are failing to do so – with the proportion as high as 40 per cent in some areas. A significant number of housing associations in Glasgow, which is due to host a major UN climate change summit in November, are among those performing worse than the national average on the energy efficiency target – a key part of the Scottish Government’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Critics say the figures are “really disappointing,” with warnings that – together with rising energy prices and UK Government cuts to universal credit – they will leave many social housing tenants “between a rock and a hard place.”

The Ferret 26th Sept 2021 read more »

The National 26th Sept 2021 read more »

Work has begun on a new low carbon innovation centre built at Shawfair just outside Edinburgh. The building will be carbon neutral when operational and will be the global centre of Research and design and manufacturing for two key technologies. The £25 million investment will be home to Danfoss Editron which develops electric and hybrid powertrain systems for heavy duty vehicles and to Digital Displacement – a technology conceived at the University of Edinburgh which will radically reduce energy consumption in hydraulic machines. Danfoss, a Danish family-owned company,estimates that global adoption of these two technologies could reduce the lifetime CO2 emissions of excavators alone by 80 Megatonnes (Mt) by 2030 – equivalent to the entire annual CO2 emissions of Scotland and Denmark combined.

Edinburgh Reporter 25th Sept 2021 read more »

Insulate Britain, the group behind Friday’s protest, launched only last week but its campaign of civil disobedience has already involved activists repeatedly blocking the M25, causing long tailbacks and leading to more than 300 arrests. The campaign is calling for the government to insulate the UK’s draughty housing stock – social housing by 2025 and the rest by 2030 – to tackle climate emissions, reduce fuel poverty and improve public health. Its tactics have been fiercely criticised, with politicians labelling the protesters as selfish and warning they were putting themselves and others in danger. But as the protesters vowed to continue their campaign, academics and policy experts acknowledged that although there were misgivings about the group’s tactics, its call to improve the UK’s often draughty and inefficient housing stock – some of the worst in Europe – had widespread support. For more than a decade, climate scientists and policy experts have regarded insulating homes as “low-hanging fruit” in the effort to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions – with huge additional benefits in terms of tackling fuel poverty and improving public health. Jess Ralston, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said that although most experts “wouldn’t dream” of joining demonstrations like the one organised by Insulate Britain, there was widespread agreement with the group’s demands. “Their methods may be disruptive, but many experts inside and outside of government have repeatedly agreed with their messages and called for a plan to sort out our poorly performing homes over the last decade,” said Ralston.

Guardian 24th Sept 2021 read more »

Cutting down on the energy you consume, using it at the right time, or generating some of your own, will take on added importance as gas and electricity prices climb. A few small changes to your home could be the key to weathering a winter of rising energy bills. Here are some of the steps you can take, how much you could save, and the pitfalls to avoid.

Telegraph 24th Sept 2021 read more »

We have to insulate Britain, but M25 protests don’t make the case for it. Gaby Hinsliff. If anything was going to make me well up in public, I never imagined it would be the joys of insulation. Loft lagging does not generally make the heart sing. People do not normally get choked up over cavity wall filling. But it turns out they probably should. A few weeks ago someone showed me a film about a regeneration project to retrofit a social housing estate in Padiham, near Burnley, with green energy measures – and frankly, it would have melted a heart of stone. The houses were draughty and mouldy, with elderly storage heaters that cost a fortune but still didn’t keep people warm. One woman’s heating bills were so high she was skipping meals so that her son didn’t go without. When the housing association-turned-developer Places for People promised to install solar panels, insulation and new windows, they were met with some suspicion. If you live in social housing, you’ve seen promises come and go. But the film ended with residents marvelling at how much money they were saving every week (more than some are probably likely to lose this winter in universal credit, to put it in perspective) and how marvellous it was not to be huddled miserably under a duvet all day for warmth. Parents could now afford the occasional treat for their kids. Even the builders doing the work looked a bit emotional.

Guardian 24th Sept 2021 read more »