When someone is on the gas grid, it’s hard to realise how difficult it is to heat a home that’s off it. Renewable sources like heat pumps and solar panels are especially important for homes that have limited options when it comes to traditional energy. Put simply, there is not a ‘one size fits’ all approach to making our homes more energy efficient. However, the process of upgrading an existing structure will depend on various factors such as a home’s existing heating system and the property type and location. Upgrading UK homes energy to clean sources is crucial if we’re going to meet our net zero targets. To address this, people must be able to easily access their Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating in real time, as well as being given guidance about how they can make the most effective improvements. Our recent research 4 found that even among those who are already looking to make energy efficiency changes, there‘s too little awareness about how to start.įor instance, a third (34%) of homeowners don’t know where to find information about improving the energy efficiency of their property, while 40% have no idea how energy efficient their home currently is. We know that people are struggling to makes the necessary energy improvements to their properties. So first and foremost, we need to go back to basics and help people make the changes needed to insulate their homes. I’ve lived in houses with spectacularly poor insulation and however hard I tried to heat them, I was never going to be warm. However, if a home isn’t adequately insulated, there's no point spending time and money installing renewable energy sources (such as a heat pump or solar panels) because the house will still be cold - and much less energy efficient. However, there are still some significant challenges that need to be addressed before we’ll be able to see wide-scale change across the UK’s housing stock.Īccording to figures from the UK Parliament, there are currently 29 million homes across the UK with heating systems that will need to be modernised by 2050. Improving the UK’s aging housing stock, then, will not only help to protect the planet for future generations research 3 estimates that £10m could be shaved off household energy bills across England and Wales if our homes were upgraded. Their bills went down, and they said that their home “was warm for the first time”. One family near to where I live, who were off the gas grid and who relied on oil heating and a coal fire, told me about how their experience changed once they had an air source heat pump installed. I wrote my PhD from under a duvet because I lived in a house where the only heat source was a small coal fire, so I have first-hand experience of why it’s so important that we upgrade the heating systems of the nation’s homes – not just to make them more environmentally friendly, but also to improve people’s lives.įamilies in more rural areas especially face issues with cold and badly-insulated housing. I’ve spent a lot of my life living in quite damp, cold cottages in rural Wales. High-emitting properties aren’t just bad for the planet – they can make for a miserable standard of living too. However, if we simply focus on the numbers, we run the risk of forgetting the real people and families at the heart of these homes. That’s a saving 2.8 tonnes of carbon per year, per property 2. We can already see this across new-build properties, with the average new-build emitting just one-third of the carbon of typical older houses thanks to better eco-credentials. Improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s homes will help us fight the climate crisis by lowering emissions coming from our homes, and ensuring our properties are set up for a low-carbon future. The average home in the UK loses heat three times faster than a German property. 16% of the UK’s total carbon emissions arise from our homes, which is largely because the UK has the oldest homes in the world, and the worst insulated in Europe 1. Taking action to make the UK’s homes greener could have a significant impact on the nation's carbon footprint.
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