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#NetZero target is incredibly welcome to focus minds so, from our work on over 3 million homes so far, here is what we have learned so far about the Home Front in the #climateemergency THREAD 👇
1. Carrots and sticks: Legal targets cut through ROI & get #retrofit to top of agenda. The #CleanGrowthStrategy targets are already driving investment amongst our public and private sector clients and action will accelerate once the standards, and their enforcement, are clarified
2. Sell the sofa not the finance: Of the carrots, our research amongst home-owners shows there is appetite for good-value #retrofit finance to overcome upfront costs, but the rest of the offer has to appeal first. Again, multiple levers are needed.
3. Can't manage what we can't measure: building owners, landlords and local authorities don't have a right to detailed data from #EPC surveys; yet are expected to meet or enforce #energyefficiency standards. #Netzero cannot be delivered in the dark.
4.#Energyefficiency *is* low carbon heating: EE & its demand reduction reduce the installation, running cost and system costs of low CO2 heating. Support for the latter must also be open to the former so that technologies, systems and trades can compete on a level playing field.
5. High standards can cut costs: we nd zero carbon regs for new build now. The sooner the skills and materials are required at scale in the new build sector, the sooner costs fall across the entire housing sector; & the normalisation of low carbon homes can, at last, begin.
6. Innovation funds shd support not lead Govt policy: most effective policies in the past decade: products policy & FIT. They gave their markets a clear framework in which to innovate. R&D £ is welcome in #retrofit but fundamentally the market nds clearer £ &/or legal imperatives
7. Incorporate measured & carbon performance: Decisions are required on how a Net Zero target relates to EPCs; after a decade of dismissal, it seems the time of the Environmental Indicator may have arrived, and our clients are already using our software to model #netzero targets.
8. Retrofit should not be an add-on in building regs: V few chances to influence energy efficiency in owner-occupied homes. Building regs must promote & require net zero design at every stage, as should legal responsibilities & financial charges at the point of sale and rent.
9. An emergency requires urgency: early movers across all sectors shd be rewarded. These are one-off decisions, potentially w/ significant hassle, but also w/ significant long-term benefits: a tonne of carbon saved now by #energyefficiency, is worth ten saved in a decade's time.
10. We are in a #ClimateEmergency. Our homes will have additional pressures in a changing climate – the sooner the risk of overheating & water efficiency is fully incorporated into the EPC dataset and our renovation of the UK’s homes, the better. Provided owners can use the data.
That's all folks. If you are a #housingassociation or #localauthority who wants to test how you can get your housing to Net Zero, or any other CO2, affordability, fuel poverty or SAP target, get in touch and we'll show you what each home needs and how to get started.
