Wind farms, nuclear power plants, solar panels and hydrogen: billions of public and private cash around the world is being poured into sophisticated ways to produce more clean energy. Yet behind that progress lurks an uncomfortable reality. Much of this energy is in effect wasted, not through useless activity or misdeeds, but in a more insidious way: warm air leaking through doors, draughty windows and attics, while aged fridges, washing machines and light bulbs use more power than they need. At a time of soaring energy bills and growing anxiety over tackling climate change, experts say that situation must change. Energy efficiency may capture the imagination less than advances in clean energy generation, but can play a key role in keeping bills down and cutting carbon emissions. Experts have predicted it could cost £6.2bn more a year to move the UK towards low-carbon home heating unless it is accompanied by energy efficiency measures. Energy efficiency could also save homeowners £8bn and, with other heating upgrades, help cut the equivalent of six nuclear power stations in energy demand, recent research has claimed. There have been some notable policy flip-flops. In 2015, the Government abandoned a plan requiring for new homes to be “zero carbon” amid efforts to speed up housebuilding. Lord Deben, chairman of the Climate Change Committee, which advises to the Government, told the select committee that “the people who laughed all the way to the bank were the builders who decided in advance that the Government would never get on with that”. More recently, the Government has been criticised over its short-lived Green Homes Grant scheme, which awarded homeowners vouchers worth up to £10,000 to upgrade their homes. It was scrapped in March 2021, seven months after launching and having upgraded fewer than 50,000 of the 600,000 envisaged. Dame Meg Hillier, the MP who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said the scheme was “a slam dunk fail” and “a terrible waste of money and opportunity at a time when we can least afford it”. Reports that the Government might now be looking at cutting the Energy Company Obligation, a levy on energy bills to pay for boilers and insulation, have been met with alarm by campaigners. Calls to tackle energy efficiency are coming to the fore at a time of rising energy costs. Months of soaring wholesale natural gas prices are expected to hit households in April when the energy price cap on household bills is reset. In a report in October, E3G found that improving the energy efficiency of homes with a mid-ranking D rating could save households £511 on their bills in April. It adds that while the Homes Upgrade Grant and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund are supporting households on the very lowest incomes, there is “no national programme available for the huge group that the government classifies as ‘able-to-pay’”.
Telegraph 19th Jan 2022 read more »