Why retrofit is a golden opportunity

Monday, 18 January 2010

Andrew Eagles, Managing Director of Sustainable Homes reports 

Well there surely is enough happening in the sector. Slowly, like a massive cargo ship the sector has started to turn to focus on our existing stock. The opportunity? Twenty five million homes need zero carbon refurbishment by 2050. Three broad groups are moving us to the start line. The lobbiers, the Government and doers. All are needed.

The doers - Leading associations are trying things out for themselves. Hyde Housing Association refurbished a terraced house to 80% less carbon last year. This project is impressive. The improvement is significant considering the SAP was already reasonable. Secondly the impacts of the works are being monitored. Brilliant.

Gentoo Housing Group, are providing honest concise reports on the approaches that best worked when installing low carbon measures into existing homes. The results might surprise you. How many homes did they need to look at to find 100 that could incorporate solar thermal? Check it out at www.sustainablehomes.co.uk

The sector is sitting up and noticing. There are a tonne of ways best practise is being shared. The energy savings trust publish case studies. One other way is through the Sustainable Homes Index For Tomorrow (SHIFT) network. SHIFT assists registered social landlords to reduce their environmental impacts. Over 800,000 homes are now under membership. Learning events help each organisation learn the details of how to leading. At events sharing is provided on achieving lower carbon refurbishments but also assist residents to understand their homes. SHIFT is supported by WWF-Uk, the UK Green Building Council and the Tenant Services Authority. Great stuff, low carbon homes, low carbon lifestyles.

Some private householders are also making moves. Old home super home is a collection of home owners that have refurbished old homes to over 60% less carbon. They are into it. They will even take you inside and talk you through the works they did.

Government - Funding through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target has increased by 20%. Standard measures are still the main stay (lofts, cavity walls and lighting) but there is now opportunity to support demonstration projects, trialling new products and schemes and assessing customer reactions. 

The Community Energy Savings Programme is providing whole house energy efficiency improvements. CESP is expected to deliver savings of up to £300 for residents as they go street by street improving homes. One of the issues that we might need to get on top of is, compulsion. If we are moving along a street improving it, it will be extremely cost efficient to improve all houses on the street. Will energy

Following CESP it is expected that the Heat and Energy Savings Strategy will provide a trajectory to zero carbon for all homes. Wow. The potential is exciting. Should we get this right it is not just carbon that will be lost. Other advantages include

• Ditching the leaks means - healthier homes
• Incorporating adaption measures means ditching overheating
• Ditching inefficient taps, baths and showers means lower water bills and
• And ditches or permeable paving means ditching expensive flood damage

Lobbyers and ideas - The Existing Homes Alliance - have launched a number of papers summarising potential funding and policies for driving low carbon refurbishment. Their appropriately titled “Paying For It” paper usefully assesses different funding mechanisms for paying for refurbishment of existing stock, laying out possible avenues for the UK to take.

Parliament select committees have made a number of noises about the need for greater action. The recently released progress report to Parliament Committee on Climate Change (October 2009) committee set a goal of 35% reduction in CO2 from residential buildings compared to 2007 figures. This includes lofty targets such as 10 million lofts and 7.5 million cavities insulated by 2015, 2.3 million solid walls insulated and 12 million non condensing boilers replaced by 2022. To get there they suggest Government further support CERT and move to a whole house approach, wider role out DECs, and a new framework to provide financial and other support for the uptake of renewable heat.

The UK Green Building Council have suggest Government should investigate a Pay As You Save mechanism. This is a principle where a loan is provided to a house for energy efficient improvements. The pay back is financed through these improvements. When people move on the link is kept with the house. The conservatives have committed over £6k per house to a policy that looks similar to this. I sit on the group overseeing the pilots. I look forward to some splendid proposals.

So there is a great deal happening. We play a small part by assist people to get there. A carbon assessment of existing stock helps understand which improvements are cost effective measures. Seminars help people refurbish to 80% less carbon. We can not get everywhere. The goal is mammoth.

The thinkers are thinking, the doers are doing, Government are coming up with a plan. If you have housing stock, you could pilot an improvement. If you own a home you should be considering initial steps for improving it. When one hears “refurbishing our existing housing stock is the single biggest engineering challenge this country has ever faced”, (comment from the previous Chief Scientific Adviser to Government) there are two ways of look at that. An impossible task? Or task that is worth pursuing. A task that can significantly improve the quality of life of UK residents. Where do you sit?