Britain’s leaky homes make the energy crisis worse. Our country has the oldest and least insulated housing stock in western Europe, meaning that we lose heat through walls, windows and doors quickly after turning off the radiators. We can make home insulation a bigger priority by retrofitting millions of existing, ageing buildings and insisting all new homes are zero carbon. The good news is that everything we do to insulate our homes and make them more comfortable to live in not only cuts expensive energy bills but also reduces the impact on the environment.
If you want to read or listen to a couple of inspiring home insulation examples, look below. If you want to take action, jump here to do something bigger.
Inspiration read
A fuel poverty scheme for all Scotland
Affordable heating and home insulation grants
Warmer Homes Scotland is the Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme. It’s a programme managed by Warmworks, a joint venture partnership set up in 2015 between Energy Saving Trust, Changeworks and Everwarm. The scheme provides grants for insulation, efficient heating and renewable technologies in the homes of households who are struggling with the cost of high energy bills, making them more affordable to heat. To date, Warmworks and its network of supply chain partners have helped more than 35,000 homes and families across Scotland to manage their energy costs and live warmer, healthier lives.
Teaching more people how to insulate homes
Local communities are central to Warmworks’ approach to delivering their services, and their employment skills plan sets out ambitions for creating jobs and apprenticeships, training and reskilling. New opportunities created by this programme extend to contractors throughout the supply chain as well as employees; to mentoring vulnerable young people through MCR Pathways in Glasgow and Edinburgh; and to better preparing young people for work through Developing the Young Workforce. Since they were founded, they have supported the creation of over 3,000 training opportunities, 150 apprenticeships and 700 new jobs.
Blueprint for a Great British Energy Efficiency Scheme
Across the country, greater support should be placed in particular on insulating properties in fuel poverty and governments in the UK should aim to insulate fuel-poor households and social housing to a high standard wherever possible. The success and learning from Warmer Homes Scotland can be replicated for other home nations, as well as for smaller-scale services that pair advice with implementation. We desperately need a bigger programme of government-backed, council-delivered home insulation, to help people keep their bills down for good as well as reduce excessive carbon emissions – and this inspiring Scottish scheme provides a potential blueprint for a Great British Energy Efficiency Scheme!
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Inspiration listen
Do Something Bigger
What would inspire you to do something bigger for climate and nature? In this, the first episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast series, Do Something Bigger, we introduce our year-long campaign: 25…
Do something bigger
More than a fifth of the UK’s total carbon emissions come from the houses we live in and so something much bigger must be done to address our poor housing stock. The task ahead of us of insulating homes is ambitious but entirely achievable; after all, it’s Rockwool insulation, not rocket science. As concerned residents, we can seek support from advice services to tackle poor building insulation in our communities; as councillors and landlords, we can do more for tenants living in social housing; as householders, we can partner with others to retrofit our homes.
Work with independent advice services
Support is available through national organisations such as the Centre for Sustainable Energy and regional organisations, such as SHINE London and Energyworks in Manchester, that offer advice to help individuals, communities and local businesses tackle poor building insulation and heat decarbonisation to reduce fuel bills and carbon emissions. In addition, there are a number of existing energy efficiency schemes designed for homeowners, including the government-backed Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme offering financial support from your energy supplier if you choose to make your home more energy efficient, and the Nest scheme for householders in Wales.
Invest in social housing improvements
The highest proportion of households living in fuel poverty are private renters with 24 percent being in fuel poverty. The current Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) have set a requirement for all privately rented homes, in England and Wales, to be at least Energy Performance Certificate E (the lowest possible EPC rating is G). The Scottish Government is currently consulting on a minimum energy efficiency standard to take effect in 2028. Aside from this woefully low target for private rented sector landlords, things can be done more immediately by local councils and social housing sector landlords to improve the energy performance of social housing locally, with access to funds under the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.
Retrofit home insulation with people power
People Powered Retrofit is a model for able-to-pay households. Initiated by community energy cooperative Carbon Co-op, and design and research cooperative URBED, People Powered Retrofit is a community benefit society that aims to help more householders in Greater Manchester to retrofit their properties. Their team collaborates with householders, contractors, community energy organisations and others to support the delivery of more and better domestic retrofit projects; offering help to homeowners in planning, procuring and implementing their retrofits. Something to consider using if you live in Greater Manchester or to replicate if you live elsewhere!
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