October 2022 digital edition
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Retrofit<br />
revolution<br />
By Rebecca Harvey<br />
Our homes use 35% of the UK’s energy and<br />
produce 20% of its CO2 emissions. At the same<br />
time, the UK faces its worst energy bill crisis in<br />
at least 50 years – after rising living costs have<br />
already squeezed people still reeling from the<br />
2008 crash and austerity that followed.<br />
The price cap freeze and £550 in support<br />
to households recently announced by the UK<br />
government have largely been welcomed, but<br />
it’s a temporary measure; prices are projected to<br />
remain high for several years.<br />
In this context – and taking the climate<br />
crisis into consideration – retrofitting looks<br />
very appealing. When it comes to housing,<br />
retrofitting adapts existing buildings so that<br />
energy consumption and emissions are reduced,<br />
resulting in a more comfortable and healthier<br />
home with lower fuel bills. In the UK, Energy<br />
Performance Certificates (EPCs) indicate the<br />
energy efficiency of buildings, based on data<br />
about its construction materials, heating systems<br />
and insulation. Domestic EPCs are banded from<br />
A to G, where A is the most energy-efficient; the<br />
average energy efficiency rating for a dwelling in<br />
England and Wales is band D.<br />
Upgrade methods include improved<br />
insulation, airtightness and ventilation, as<br />
well as using appropriate heating and cooling<br />
systems, renewable technologies and energyefficient<br />
materials.<br />
In September, two reports asked why the<br />
government hasn’t been more supportive<br />
of retrofit.<br />
In Tackling the UK’s energy efficiency problem<br />
– What the Truss government should learn<br />
from other countries, from the Institute for<br />
Government, Rosa Hodgkin and Tom Sasse<br />
highlight how retrofit can make a real difference<br />
to the UK energy crisis – but they note that it was<br />
entirely absent from the prime minister’s plan.<br />
“The UK’s homes and buildings are among<br />
the least efficient in Europe, which is making<br />
the crisis especially painful for households<br />
and businesses,” they write. “Remarkably, the<br />
Johnson government and now, seemingly, the<br />
Truss government have ignored this so far. The<br />
case for action is even stronger now that the<br />
government will be taking such large energy<br />
costs directly on to its balance sheet.”<br />
This sentiment is echoed by Community<br />
Energy England (CEE). “Government plans have<br />
done nothing at all to correct the appalling<br />
record of the Conservative government over<br />
many years to address a key root cause of this<br />
energy crisis by retrofitting our building stock –<br />
Europe’s leakiest,” said a CEE spokesperson.<br />
“Major investment in retrofit is something<br />
that would genuinely improve domestic energy<br />
security as well as domestic health, happiness<br />
and economics. It would create employment,<br />
and reduce carbon emissions. It would protect<br />
property values, save huge health and welfare<br />
costs as well as being electorally popular. A nobrainer,<br />
you would think.”<br />
In a second report, Train local, work local,<br />
stay local: Retrofit, growth, and levelling up, the<br />
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) urges<br />
the government to look seriously at increasing<br />
the pace of retrofit – and to help communities<br />
in the process by training and employing a local<br />
cohort of specialists.<br />
“In a crisis like this, the government should be<br />
pulling every possible policy lever available to it,<br />
to reduce energy consumption, move away from<br />
32 | OCTOBER <strong>2022</strong>