While few people who try and buy products with energy rating of A or even A++ many of us live in housing rated C or even D or below. With soaring energy prices and the possibility that they will go up again this autumn, it also means that many people will be pushed into fuel poverty. It is also essential to improve the UK housing stock if we are to get anywhere near our commitment to combat climate change.

We know that many people reading this article will just be interested in what they can do, and what support they can get in cutting their growing energy bills. Therefore, we will deal with this first.

Reducing Heat Loss In Your Home

One of the problems we face is that there are many companies out there offering ‘advice’. No doubt, some of this is good, however sometimes they are just trying to promote their particular product or services.

Therefore, we have given a few links to what we believe is reliable information. Warm Homes Suffolk is probably the best place to start if you need advice with the Energy Saving Trust and Which providing background information.

• Local Council – for example Warm Homes Suffolk or look on the Simple Energy Advice website.
• Energy Saving Trust – Reducing home heat loss
• Which – Insulation grants

It Is Not Just About You

An important point to bear in mind is that our homes are not just our property – they are a resource that we will be passing down to other people and future generations. 80-85% of homes in existence now will still be occupied in 2050¹ and the UK has some of the worse insulated homes in Europe²:

• Proportion of households in fuel poverty (UK ranks 13th of 13)
• Affordability of heating : (UK ranks 14th of 15)
• Share of household expenditure going on energy: (UK ranks 11th of 13)
• Homes in a poor state of repair: (UK ranks 11th of 15)

In terms of the effect on climate change, ‘our’ homes use 35% of all the energy in the UK and emit 20% of the carbon dioxide emissions.

Who Pays?

One of the problems win improving homes is that it requires large capital investment that many people cannot afford. Although there are some grants available for some people, the government has not implemented a strategy to improve the country’s housing stock.

This is another area where it is important to look at the systemic effects of carrying out the work needed, rather than just the benefits to individual homeowners.

For example, Cambridge Economics and Verco state in their report Building the Future³:

In addition to making all low income households highly energy efficient, and reducing the level of fuel poverty, the modelling has established that this energy efficiency programme would deliver:

• £3.20 returned through increased GDP per £1 invested by government0.6% relative GDP improvement by 2030, increasing annual GDP in that year by £13.9bn
• £1.27 in tax revenues per £1 of government investment, through increased economic activity, such that the scheme has paid for itself by 2024, and generates net revenue for government thereafter
• 2.27 : 1 cost benefit ratio (Value for Money), which would classify this as a “High” Value for Money infrastructure programme
• Increased employment by up to 108,000 net jobs per annum over the period 2020-2030, mostly in the service and construction sectors. These jobs would be spread across every region and constituency of the UK.
• £8.61 billion per annum in total energy bill savings across housing stock, after comfort take (including energy price inflation)
• Net benefit of £4.95 billion per annum from the total energy bill savings across the housing stock (after able-to-pay energy efficiency loans have been repaid)
• 23.6MtCO2 reductions per annum by 2030, after accounting for direct, indirect, and economy-wide rebound effects. This is roughly equivalent to cutting the CO2 emissions of the UK transport fleet by one third.
• Improved health and reduced healthcare expenditure, due to warmer and more comfortable homes, and improved air quality. For every £1 spent on reducing fuel poverty, a return of 42 pence is expected in National Health Service (NHS) savings.
• A more resilient economy, less at risk of shock changes in gas prices, as the economy becomes less reliant on fossil fuels. Investment in energy efficiency in the domestic sector will result in a 26% reduction in imports of natural gas in 2030, worth £2.7bn in that year

Similar benefits as well as the creation of 500,000 has also been highlighted by the Construction Leadership Council⁴.

We Need To Work Together

If you can afford it or adequate support is available, there are many things that you can do to stop wasting energy when heating your home. However, at the moment the piecemeal approach by government to this issue, and climate change as a whole, is wasting time and money.

As the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors stated⁵:

While the UK Government ambitions in decarbonising housing stock have been stated, the policy route is uncertain. A holistic approach to retrofitting is required, reviewing the existing myriad of Government policies and schemes that seek to address specific energy efficiency issues, and identifying both policy gaps and opportunities to enhance
outcomes.

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¹ Reflections on retrofits: Overcoming barriers to energy efficiency among the fuel poor in the United Kingdom, Fiona Fylan et al, Energy Research & Social Science Volume 21, November 2016, Pages 190-198 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629616301852)

² UK suffers worst fuel poverty in Western Europe, Energy Bill Revolution (http://www.energybillrevolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Press-Release-UK-Suffers-Worst-Fuel-Poverty-in-Europe.pdf)

³ Building the Future: The economic and fiscal impacts of making homes energy efficient, Cambridge Economics / Verco, 2015 (https://sustainableenergyassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Building-the-Future-The-Economic-and-Fiscal-impacts-of-making-homes-energy-efficient.pdf)

⁴ Greening Our Existing Homes, Construction Leadership Council, 2021 (https://www.constructionleadershipcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Construction-Leadership-Council-National-Retrofit-Strategy-Version-2.pdf)

⁵ Retrofitting to decarbonise UK existing housing stock, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, (https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-policy-report-retrofitting-to-decarbonise-uk-existing-housing-stock)