The Challenges of Achieving Energy Efficiency in Homes

When Simon Duffy receives another energy bill, he experiences dismay. He states, “It’s madly expensive.” Mr. Duffy resides in a traditional stone-walled detached house in Sheffield and estimates his annual expenditure on heating and electricity to be £3,100. Despite his concern for climate change and his desire to retrofit his property for improved efficiency, a problem persists. Mr. Duffy, a director of the sustainability think-tank Citizen Network, remarks, “The whole question of how to better insulate the house is a real mystery to me.” He adds, “I don’t know where the expertise for that is.” He also expresses uncertainty about the possibility of installing solar panels, given that his home is located in a conservation area. Millions of homeowners across the country may be encountering a similar predicament. According to the UK Green Building Council, an industry body, approximately 29 million British homes will require retrofitting by 2050. Retrofitting measures can include enhancing a home’s insulation, upgrading the heating system, or installing energy-generating devices such as solar panels or even a private wind turbine. These modifications can incur upfront costs of thousands of pounds, but if executed correctly, they have the potential to enhance comfort and reduce household bills in the long term. Furthermore, increased energy efficiency is expected to decrease carbon emissions from homes, particularly if property owners transition from gas or oil-fired boilers. Residential buildings account for roughly one fifth of the UK’s total emissions. Amy Peace and her husband live in the northwest of England, near Warrington. Both work in sustainability, advising businesses on their journey to net zero. They were eager to improve their home’s quality and apply their professional principles to their personal lives, but they too faced challenges in deciding how to proceed. Mrs. Peace stated, “Even though we’ve got this background, and we’re engineers as well, what we weren’t entirely clear on was where was best to spend the money.” The couple consulted multiple professionals, but Mrs. Peace found that the advice they received often focused on meeting Passivhaus standards, which represent an ultra-energy efficient type of building. Mrs. Peace further commented, “There weren’t many in that pragmatic middle space where you are literally saying, ‘We’ve got this much money, where would we be best putting it?’.” Nevertheless, their persistence over the past three years has yielded results, and the couple’s 1930s detached house now features improved insulation, a heat pump, and an electric car charging point. Solar panels and a battery are scheduled to follow shortly, provided the plans proceed as expected. Recognizing the confusion surrounding retrofit approaches, some organizations are working to enhance the advice available to homeowners. Ecofurb is among them. Liz Lainé, from Parity Projects, a housing data analysis company that operates Ecofurb, states, “We can model all the different options that are available, suitable for your home and your budget, and identify a package of measures.” The firm offers this initial consultation free of charge, but comprehensive plans, including personalized input from a retrofit coordinator, start at £470. Ms. Lainé notes that Ecofurb can also oversee any work performed by contractors to prevent “horror stories.” Many other organizations also offer assistance to homeowners in planning a retrofit. This work frequently involves conducting a heat-loss survey to identify cold areas requiring insulation and to gain a clearer understanding of a property’s heating demand. Experts may also offer guidance on, for instance, the appropriateness of solar panels for a specific home. The Get a Heat Pump website, launched by the charities Nesta and The MCS Foundation, provides explanations of heat pumps and how they can be incorporated into a home renovation strategy. RICS, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, has also recently introduced a new retrofit standard for its members. This initiative primarily encourages surveyors who possess the relevant training to provide their expertise to homeowners who are either planning or undertaking a retrofit. Steve Lees, from the RICS retrofit project team, states that the RICS website will soon feature a variety of retrofit advice and a tool designed to assist homeowners in locating a suitable surveyor within their local vicinity. Gerald Charles, head of housing retrofit at the Centre for Sustainable Energy, asserts that enhancing the energy efficiency of homes is “essential” for decarbonisation. However, he also notes that the existing scarcity of sound advice continues to be a significant issue. He remarks, “The industry as a whole don’t appreciate the importance of good retrofit advice.” James Major, founder and chief executive of HubbPro, a company that assists architects in designing energy-efficient buildings, has identified a knowledge gap in the market. Mr. Major observes that architects do not consistently possess the most current information on how to integrate energy-saving technologies into their plans. He states, “Clean tech isn’t part of what they do or what they should know – that’s an engineering function.” Despite this, clients of architects are increasingly inquiring about such technologies when planning new homes or extensions. Through an initiative named MyHubb, Mr. Major is now providing architects with comprehensive reports that project the carbon reduction potential and payback period for retrofitted measures, such as heat pump-based heating systems or solar panels. He indicates that these reports are priced at approximately £1,000, though he notes that this cost has not yet been finalized. Mr. Duffy states that he will continue to search for solutions to his personal retrofit challenge. However, he raises an additional point: a significant portion of the currently accessible technology and advice is designed for individual homeowners. He proposes that neighbourhood-scale initiatives, such as providing solar power to an entire street, could be more logical and encompass a greater number of individuals simultaneously. He comments, “That’s what I would think is the logical way of thinking about this.”