With the dust settling from the bruising London mayoral election, winner Sadiq Khan is now tasked with delivering on his central green promises, such as his pledge to tackle air pollution and set up a flagship non-profit energy company, Energy for Londoners. But as Khan makes early moves to fulfil these and other commitments on energy efficiency and clean energy, he and his national counterparts might do well to consider how a home retrofit strategy previously backed by his former rival Zac Goldsmith could yet provide a major boost to efforts to curb emissions and tackle fuel poverty. Energiesprong – literally translated as ‘energy leap’ – is an ambitious domestic retrofit scheme currently in the late stages of trials in the Netherlands. The key to the programme is the use of a commercial model to enable major whole-house retrofits which drastically boost the energy performance of a dwelling, while also improving its appearance and comfort level. Renovations can include everything from the installation of modern wall insulation, which is a standard feature of other energy efficiency programmes, to the deployment of exciting technologies such as heat pumps, electric induction cookers and showers, rooftop solar PV, and upgraded kitchens and bathrooms. The approach also aims to complete all upgrades in a short period – intervention times on site are typically less than a week, with tenants remaining in the house while work is completed. Crucially, the provider of the Energiesprong service guarantees the house as a ‘net zero energy’ property for a set period of typically 30 to 40 years, continuing to provide any maintenance the house needs during this time in order to fulfil the guarantee. It is an approach that is only possible when the whole house is addressed by one provider at once. “If you’re in control of the product, the whole house, then you can give a guarantee on it,” Arno Schmickler, manager of the start-up of Energiesprong in the UK, tells BusinessGreen. “If you’re only doing individual measures, you can’t really ask for a guarantee because there’s always somebody else to be blamed for underperformance.”
Business Green 24th May 2016 read more »