UK PM urged to avoid false choice between hospitals and homes. 50 organisations join call to UK government to avoid a “false choice” between hospitals, heat pumps, and home insulation with ECO Plus scheme. A group of nearly 50 organisations representing finance, fuel poverty, local authorities, academia, retrofit, manufacturing and civil society have written to the Prime Minister to fund new energy efficiency support with new public spending commitments, rather than by diverting much-needed funding from schemes supporting critical energy-saving measures for public buildings like schools and hospitals. While the groups warmly support a well-designed “ECO Plus” scheme for those at risk of fuel poverty, they warn against removing money from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) or other existing green homes budgets (such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme), as was suggested might be the case in recent media coverage.

E3G 21st June 2022 read more »

For decades successive UK Governments have failed to introduce an effective national energy efficiency improvement programme. The average Energy Performance Certificate (ECP) rating in England and Wales is a D, which is not a great rating. Furthermore, there are 4,860,505 buildings that have an EPC of E, F or G, which are considered to be a poor rating. This means that there are around 13,593,429 domestic properties that need to be improved to meet the Governments target for all housing to have an EPC of at least a C. As recently as September 2020 the Government launched its flagship Green Homes Grant scheme, which we were told would deliver energy efficiency upgrades to 600,000 homes. However, a complicated customer journey, long delays in receiving the grant, and a huge lack of certified installers meant that the programme was scrapped after just six months, having met only 10% of its target. A key factor in the failure of the programme was its cumbersome administration, which was outsourced to a private U.S. company at a cost of £50 million to the UK taxpayer. Another painful legacy from the scheme is the high costs involved for installers to be included as an accredited partner. Thousands of pounds were spent by small businesses across the country to gain the accreditation required to be involved with the scheme, only to see that money wasted when the grant was pulled in March 2021, an experience which has left the industry feeling bruised and bitter.

BHesco 9th June 2022 read more »

New building regulations aimed at improving energy efficiency are set to increase the price of new homes, as well as those of extensions and loft conversions on existing ones. The rules, which came into effect on Wednesday in England, are part of government plans to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. They set new standards for ventilation, energy efficiency and heating, and state that new residential buildings must have charging points for electric vehicles. The moves are the most significant change to building regulations in years, and industry experts say they will inevitably lead to higher prices at a time when a shortage of materials and high labour costs is already driving up bills.

Guardian 20th June 2022 read more »

New energy standards form part of improved building regulations and build on earlier improvements introduced in 2010 and 2015. Regulations to enable changes to the 2015 standards were laid in April 2022. The standards will also apply to newly built non-domestic buildings and form part of plans to reduce emissions across Scotland’s building stock by more than two thirds by 2030. Key elements in the new standards include: improved performance targets which will reduce emissions from new homes by an aggregate of 32% and new non-domestic buildings by an aggregate of 20%. the introduction of a new energy target for new buildings to set and report on performance of decarbonisation as new buildings are decarbonised; a focus on reducing energy demand, including improved fabric insulation in new homes to reduce heating needs; changes to make connection to low-carbon heating solutions such as heat networks easier; The new standards, which will apply from December 2022, also support plans for all new buildings to have zero emissions heating systems from 2024.

Scottish Housing News 16th June 2022 read more »

The Prime Minister is planning to divert more than £1bn from existing energy efficiency and clean heat programmes to create a new scheme focused on insulating the homes of poorer households, according to reports. The Times reported this morning that Boris Johnson has told Ministers to draw up plans to fund an expanded programme to improve the energy efficiency of fuel poor households by slashing the budget of the £1bn Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which focuses on making schools, hospitals, and other public buildings more energy efficient, and the £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which launched last month and provides grants for households switching to heat pumps. The plans have been widely slammed by environmental campaigners and opposition politicians, who have argued skimming funds from existing schemes was counterproductive, shortsighted, and amounted to ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.

Business Green 16th June 2022 read more »

The UK Government has not denied reports that it is considering a new £1bn scheme to insulate low-income households this winter, using funding raided from other low-carbon energy initiatives. The new proposals are unlikely to be popular if they follow the reported approach. The Times’ report states that the £1bn could be raised for the scheme by raiding the coffers for the £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme and £1bn Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. The former was launched last month to help households in removing gas boilers and fitting heat pumps. The latter provides funding for energy improvements in public sector buildings such as schools, hospitals and fire and rescue centres.

Edie 16th June 2022 read more »

UK Government is considering diverting money from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to fund an expanded energy company obligation scheme to support household energy efficiency. The NHS stands to lose out on £519m if the programme is cut to make way for the new policy. Expanding the energy company obligation to benefit more people is a good idea – industry figures show the new scheme could reach 700,000 homes with low-cost measures every year – but taking money from other energy efficiency schemes to fund is unnecessary. Because of rising prices, the NHS’ energy costs are projected to more than double to £1.2bn this year. The PSDS is a lifeline to tackle these costs and free up more money for patient care.

E3G 16th June 2022 read more »

The well-known campaigning group Insulate Britain is happy to let the government borrow its name if officials can’t come up with a different label for their insulation scheme, it has told the Guardian. According to a report in the Times on government plans for insulating homes, during one meeting to thrash out the policy, a No 10 official suggested calling it “Insulate Britain” – a proposal quickly nixed when someone else pointed out that it was already the name of the disruptive direct action group. The campaigners say the government is welcome to use the name – but like other environmental groups, they caution that the insulation plans as they stand are based on raiding other environmental funds, and lack the necessary ambition to tackle the issue.

Guardian 16th June 2022 read more »

Boris Johnson is drawing up plans to insulate hundreds of thousands more homes before winter to help shield people from the rising cost of living. The prime minister has told ministers to divert more than £1 billion from existing schemes to focus on insulating poorer households. The Times has been told that during one meeting a No 10 official suggested it could be called “insulate Britain”. It was rejected when someone pointed out that it was the same name as the environmental campaign group that has caused widespread disruption. It may now be called the “Great British Insulation Scheme”, but there are concerns about whether it will apply in devolved administrations. Under the plans No 10 will top up the “energy company obligation”, which is levied from bills and funds energy-efficiency measures for poorer households. Eligibility for the scheme could be expanded so it could support middle-income households if people are willing to make a contribution. Ministers could divert money from the £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation scheme, which focuses on making schools, hospitals and other public buildings more energy efficient. No 10 also considered using money from the £450 million boiler upgrade scheme that subsidises heat pumps. Last month it pulled all communications surrounding the launch of the scheme, but ministers were advised that it was too late to divert the funds. Some in government are concerned about the practicalities of extending the energy-efficiency scheme at such short notice. Since 2013 the energy company obligation scheme has installed more than 3.5 million improvements such as loft insulation in 2.4 million properties and reduced household gas demand by 20 per cent. The scheme is administered by energy companies and paid for by a levy on customer bills.

Times 16th June 2022 read more »

A new project between OVO Energy Solutions and Cornwall Council is to see 400 poorly insulated homes retrofitted with measures such as solar and heat pumps. The whole-house retrofits of the off-gas grid homes will focus on the fabric of the houses first before installations of “the right technology”, OVO said. Across the 400 homes, OVO is to deliver around 1,000 whole-house retrofit measures, including wall, cavity and loft insulation, underfloor insulation, draught proofing, air source heat pumps, high retention storage heaters, solar PV and double glazing.

Current 9th June 2022 read more »

Edie 9th June 2022 read more »

Roughly a third of the emissions reductions required by 2030 to put the world on track to deliver net zero emissions by mid-century could be achieved if policymakers and business leaders press ahead with energy efficiency, according to IEA.

Business Green 8th June 2022 read more »

Fast-tracking efforts to improve energy efficiency could reduce global annual emissions by 2030 so significantly, that one-third of the reductions needed to deliver net-zero by 2050 would be achieved, according to a major new International Energy Agency (IEA) report.

Edie 8th June 2022 read more »

With the world facing an almost unprecedented energy crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) aims to once again put energy efficiency at the forefront of policymakers’ agenda. During its 7th Global Energy Efficiency Conference hosted in Sonderborg, Denmark, the IEA has sought to convince policymakers worldwide of the merits of energy efficiency policies while providing a policy toolkit to go with it. “Energy efficiency is a critical solution to so many of the world’s most urgent challenges,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. According to an IEA analysis presented during the conference, the world could achieve massive energy savings by the end of the decade through increased ambition while simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions.

Euractiv 8th June 2022 read more »

OVO Energy Solutions and Cornwall Council collaborate on new project to improve energy efficiency of over 400 off gas grid homes. Over 400 off-gas grid homes in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are to receive whole house retrofit upgrades designed to drastically improve their energy efficiency, as part of a new partnership between energy giant OVO and Cornwall Council. Under the partnership, OVO’s Energy Solutions arm is to deliver the council’s Cornwall Winter Wellbeing partnership, which aims to undertake whole house retrofits that upgrade the fabric of a property before then installing energy-saving technologies such as heat pumps, high retention storage heaters, solar PV, and double glazing. Through the project OVO Energy Solutions is set to deliver around 1,000 measures to over 400 properties, including external wall, cavity and loft insulation, underfloor insulation, and draught proofing, as well as clean tech installations.

Business Green 9th June 2022 read more »

Producing the steel, concrete and other materials that go into our cars and homes accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse gases, so using these things more efficiently has significant potential for emissions cuts. In our recent study, published in Nature Communications, we found that constructing lighter and smaller products, combined with more intense material use and some behavioural shifts, could cut emissions from these sectors by between one and two thirds. What is more, making these changes does not require any technological breakthroughs – just willingness among politicians and citizens. We investigated the production, use and disposal of residential buildings and vehicles in the period up to 2050, exploring different assumptions about demand, population size and climate policies.

Carbon Brief 8th June 2022 read more »

Led by the City of Edinburgh Council in partnership with Glasgow-based contractor CCG (Scotland) Ltd, the 75 home ‘Granton D1’ affordable housing pilot is part of the 1.3bn, 3,500 net zero home Granton Waterfront regeneration project. Designed by Anderson Bell Christie and located to the rear of the former Granton railway station building, this is the first pilot development in the Edinburgh Home Demonstrator (EHD) Project. The collaboration between local and national government, academia and the construction industry is testing a new model for designing, procuring and delivering new homes in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal to create a greener future. Granton D1 is also part of the Council’s ambition to deliver 20,000 affordable homes by 2027 and will contribute towards achieving the city’s target to become a ‘net zero’ city by 2030. Future residents will benefit from a 20-minute neighbourhood approach, with active travel routes, public transport links and local amenities – including three commercial units on the ground floor level of D1 Homes. Where parking is provided, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points will also be installed.

City of Edinburgh Council 2nd June 2022 read more »

Across the UK, millions of families are struggling under the weight of spiralling costs of living. Soaring energy prices are a key driver. Despite the welcome one-off support recently announced by the Chancellor, the situation is unlikely to improve in the short or medium term. Ofgem has predicted that the energy price cap will hit £2,800 in October. The underlying volatility in the price of oil and gas causing the price spike is not predicted to subside for the foreseeable future. Analysts predict that wholesale prices will remain above 2021 levels until at least 2030. The government has provided £37bn this year just to keep people afloat. Investing now in long-term, enduring solutions can prevent similar sums from being required up to 2030 and potentially beyond. The government could act now to reliably lower bills by launching a national mission to upgrade the UK’s cold and leaky homes. When the energy price cap rises again in October, the average household in a home with an Energy Performance Rating (EPC) of D or below – at least 15.3 million UK households – will pay an ‘inefficiency penalty’ of £916 more per year for adequate heating than the average household living in a home rated EPC C or better. If every home below EPC C was improved, the aggregate bill saving would be £10.6bn each year at today’s prices. The UK spends more money on energy wasted through the walls and roofs of our houses than any other country in Western Europe – leaving families poorer, unhealthier and colder. Given the new energy context we are all living in, this cannot be allowed to continue.

E3G 7th June 2022 read more »