Green deal for housing must put homeowners first
The last couple of years have seen huge interest in tackling the energy use and carbon emissions of the UK’s existing housing stock, and it’s been a real pleasure to be a part of that movement. I’ve met some amazing people from the public, private and NGO sectors but few more inspirational than the homeowners who are leading the way.
Since 2009 we’ve been working with pioneers living in a variety of properties with a shared passion to reduce the energy and resource consumption of their homes. Refit West is part of Forum for the Future’s work to make Bristol and the West of England the most sustainable city-region in the UK [http://www.forumforthefuture.org/projects/sustainable-bristol-city-region], and we want to develop a practical model for ‘whole house’ energy efficiency refurbishment which can be rolled out across the country.
Our approach begins and ends with the homeowner: providing information on the most appropriate and cost-effective options for their property; designing solutions to meet their needs; ensuring suppliers give them quality and value for their money; and making capital finance available at terms that benefit them as owners.It’s all about empowering and supporting individuals as they make decisions and commission work on their homes. Never assume these are just houses we’re talking about – we are extremely emotionally attached to our housing stock.
The information currently available to homeowners is at best complex and at worst contradictory. The homeowners we are working with in Refit West, have committed their time to making sense of it and to take action that will disrupt their homes and lives for a period of time, but this is enough to put many off refurbishing their homes. We’ve helped these pioneers overcome many of the common barriers and it’s significant that, while some of the solutions and ‘whole house packages’ are becoming clearer, no two customer journeys have been the same. We need to learn from the experience of these few in order to stand a chance of building a scheme that delivers for the many. Our homes generate a quarter of the UK’s carbon footprint and making them more energy efficient is one of the most cost-effective ways to cut carbon. Our homeowners’ experience helps to explain why, despite numerous national and local initiatives, residential carbon emissions have only fallen by 6% since 1990. We desperately need to move from making 3% cuts each decade to 3% a year to meet our national carbon targets. The Committee on Climate Change wants the built environment to be near zero carbon by 2050.
Home energy efficiency is rightly seen as a political priority across all parties, and the forthcoming Energy Bill promises to provide the structures for long-term carbon reduction. But will it really deliver?Will it champion and support those pioneers and early adopters who are crucial in developing and building support for mass programmes that can refurbish a million homes a year? Or will it simply create another market opportunity for large commercial interests to cherry pick the easiest works at the expense of a long-term strategic approach?
The answer is being written in Whitehall right now. I believe achieving the carbon reductions required from our 27 million homes will take a cross-departmental approach to make your head spin...DECC, HCA, BIS, Defra, the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and significantly the Treasury.It’s great to see two parties working on this together but will we see the coalition work right across government to deliver on our national objectives and in our collective interest?
Comments
I think your most telling comment is "it’s significant that, while some of the solutions and ‘whole house packages’ are becoming clearer, no two customer journeys have been the same."
Somehow the interest in making houses and home energy efficient has to become as appealing as putting in a loft conversion or a new kitchen. Demand has to be at a local level with local solutions before the general public will understand and want to upgrade their houses.
In the same way as you can fit your own new kitchen, get a local kitchen fitter to fit one for you or employ a national company to fit an expensive kitchen, these choices have to be available for energy saving measures. But, these choices will only be made available when people want them and understand them, so their is a huge education and "selling" programme to be undertaken to create "demand" for energy efficient homes. A daunting task but one I would like the chance to discuss further with other people.
Your article misses a fundamental and important point - its not the homeowners who need to be put first, but the home occupiers. For too long the problem of poorly insulated, single glazed etc houses in the private rental sector has been 'too difficult'. Given that most of the poorest housing stock against these measures is in that sector, we need to wake up and take action. This is a sector that has massively expanded since the popularity of buy-to-let and house prices which are out of reach for many - hence more, rather than less attention is required. Whatever solution it must address this - nothing to date has overcome the fact that bills fall to the tenant, whilst expense of upgrade falls to landlord.
DECC and Defra, amongst other agencies use commercial voltage optimisation, yet it is rarely discussed on the green agenda as a viable technology for domestic installations.
Right now, voltage optimisation is rarely discussed, and definitely doesn't feature as a political priority - at least not as I write this. This article is absolutely right - home energy efficiency should be a priority, but my concern is the current focus on things like smart meters, that still require individual changes to personal behaviours - and that can take time. We need something that is effective, can be implemented quickly and is proven to work - and with many other energy efficiency initiatives already in place (ie loft and cavity wall insulation), then there are few options remaining. However, voltage optimisation is one of those relatively untapped initiatives and it needs to be placed firmly on the green agenda.
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