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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Cold comfort: improving the energy-efficiency of UK building stock
29/5/2024
8 min read
Cold, damp, shoddily-built properties blight millions of British lives. Yet opportunities abound to do something better, and there are great examples of forward-thinking building and retrofit, using fabric and design that create far warmer homes, their energy use greatly reduced. Why is there not far more of this, and what is the UK government doing about it? enquires Andrew Mourant.
The UK government is currently banging the drum for its latest initiative, Future Homes and Buildings Standards (FHBS), on which consultation ended in March. These are due to be enforced next year and are intended to ensure that all new homes are ‘net zero ready’ and won’t need retrofitting.
It would be unfair to say that nothing has been achieved. According to the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG – a collaboration of industry and trade bodies, think tanks and environmental NGOs), government policies have driven progress on building energy performance. For example, the proportion of English housing in the highest energy efficiency rating bands, A to C, increased from 16% to 47% between 2011–2021.
However, many consider that the regulations fall far short of what’s needed. The UK Green Buildings Council (UKGBC) criticises government for offering a choice between ‘the two weakest options’ set out by the Future Homes Hub (FHH – an industry and government partnership established to deliver on the 2025 FHBS) in the Ready for Zero report of March 2023. The National Housing Federation (NHF – the voice of housing associations in England) says these ‘closely resemble’ standards in the revised building regulations of 2021, but do not go far enough.