THE WARREN REPORT


delivering better insulation for homes. It notes that the government’s three- year Great British Insulation Scheme, begun last spring, was supposed to help annually an average of (just!) 100,000 households, to install new home insulation. However, in its first nine months, less than 3,000 homes were improved. At this rate, even this very modest target will take 60 years to reach.


Easy way to stop wasting energy


Investing in insulation to stop energy leaking out of the top of existing buildings has to be one of the easiest ways to save on energy, so why can’t the government be more consistent in its support for the retrofit sector? asks Andrew Warren.


I


t has been estimated that around 30% of our national energy consumption comes from our existing housing stock. Therefore, the single most obvious move for anybody to make to reduce energy consumption has long been to stop heat leaking out from the fabric of a building. Because hot air always rises, the place to start is at the top. Insulating the loft is an absolute must for everybody who has one. The tell-tale sign of poor insulation is if the roof is a hotspot for birdlife. Birds love standing on warm surfaces. Another indication is after heavy snowfall. If a roof is snow-free, chances are it really needs insulating. When the famous old slogan ‘Save


It, You Know It Makes Sense’ was introduced 50 years ago, the very first intervention from the government was to offer two-thirds of the price to anybody installing loft insulation. It was a subsidy policy that was kept up, continuously for well over a decade. Under Margaret Thatcher, the grants were even extended to encourage deeper insulation than the


EIBI | APRIL 2024


minimum being installed. That was a consistency of energy efficiency policy that has disappeared over recent years. Since then, the insulation industry has been forced to endure an endless series of false dawns. Remember the Carbon Energy Reduction Target scheme? Or the Community Energy Saving programme? That was an excellent initiative (2009/2012) that actually sought to tackle entire streets rather than spasmodic home improvements. Then there was the Green Deal, launched as the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War, but damned by an outrageous interest rate. There was also the short lived Green Homes Grants, launched in 2021 as the first post-COVID 19 initiative to Build Back Better with a £1.5bn budget, but abandoned overnight after just six months, apparently due to maladministration worries. The House of Lords Library has just published a new survey, highlighting how poorly the government is


Falling short Some parts of the country have seen as few as 100 homes benefit. Most of these homes are permitted to have only the one insulation measure installed. And now senior industry figures are concerned that ministers are already looking at the viability of the entire scheme, amid fears that it could suffer the same short-term fate as its predecessors. At present, across Britain, only


67% of homes with lofts have any insulation installed, although the picture in Scotland is far better. Consistent effective policies from the Holyrood-based government has meant that 86% of Scottish homes now have at least 125mm of insulation installed in their lofts. 30 years ago, the recommended minimum insulation depth for new homes was 200mm. Prior to that it was less than 125mm. But


The marketplace for insulation in existing homes has crashed by over 90%


that 125mm thickness is less than half the minimum levels of 270mm now installed under building regulations in new homes. Indeed, some housebuilders are now installing 400mm in order to keep the heat in.


Unsurprisingly, new build has


become the area of most relevance to those working in the insulation industry. By contrast, the marketplace for insulation in existing homes has crashed by over 90% over the past 12 years, according to the Climate Change Committee. Consequently, there is little confidence from or certainty in the independent retrofit market, where the supply chain has been permitted to dwindle to a shadow of its former self. Employment opportunities have long been dominated by the big electricity or gas sellers, hiring sub-contractors to meet their ecological obligations. “To train people, making that big


investment in people when you don’t know there is going to be that continuity of funding, is very difficult,” warns Matt Copeland, head of policy at the fuel poverty charity National Energy Action. There is also a presumption


that, once installed, loft insulation will continue to operate just as successfully 40 or even 50 years later. In those early days, loft insulation was mostly installed by DIY amateurs, rather than professionals, so in some lofts, insulation has been laid in the wrong way. Or has been moved around subsequently, creating worrying gaps. As well as wasting energy, that can be the cause of dampness and condensation. Installing deeper insulation


correctly in a loft is one of the most obvious ways of ‘greening’ a lifestyle. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that not only would occupants be saving up to £395 per year by doing so, but they will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 990kg per year after year after year. We should all top up on top. ■


Andrew Warren


Chairs the British Energy Efficiency Federation


11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36