Energy Efficient Scotland, the journey to a more sustainable housing stock and the new decade.

You may have missed it during the Christmas holidays, but the Scottish Government announced on the 30th of December that it's proposing a new, legally binding standard for home energy efficiency from 2024 onwards to tackle climate change and eradicate fuel poverty. 

The standard will sit alongside similar standards for social housing [Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing or EESSH] and the private rented sector under the Energy Efficient Scotland Strategy.

The Government will seek views from homeowners, through public consultation, on what this standard may look like, and how it can help homeowners meet it. However, initial proposals are that it is either a C or a B rating under SAP. 

The consultation [link below] will be open until 26 March 2020 and responses will inform the development of the Energy Efficient Scotland programme and shape the next steps for action in owner-occupied housing.

Whilst by the end of 2021 the Scottish Government will have allocated more than ￡1 billion to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency in the attempt to make them warmer and easier to heat, much more will need to be done.

In terms of the impact, there are approximately 2.48 million households in Scotland. Of these about 62% are owner-occupied, or around 1.5 million homes. However, only 38% of these properties have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C or above, about 600,000 in total.

That means that as it stands over 950,000 homes will currently fail the proposed standard and will need to be retrofitted over the coming years in order to comply. What that work entails and who carries it out will vary from area to area and house to house. What is certain is the cavity wall and loft insulation won’t cut it anymore.

We’ll need to look at a more comprehensive and holistic approach to insulation, as well as where renewables can be used to best effect. The new standard, and the potential phasing out of gas boilers, may make District Heating more viable in urban areas such as Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow; and there is much we can learn from our Scandinavian cousins in how they have embraced communal heating. 

However, whilst on a personal note I’m supportive of the drive to a zero-carbon society and the improvement in energy efficiency it’s difficult not to overstate the task of improving our housing stock, and indeed financial impact on owner-occupiers should the proposed standard become legally binding. 

The Scottish Government's own figures, which are publicly available, estimate that ￡3,500 is needed per property to meet the new standard.  That's about ￡3.3 billion which will need to be spent, by Scottish homeowners, within the coming decade.   A not inconsiderable amount.

Whilst it will be painful for many households it is necessary and in the long term more sustainable than ever-increasing energy consumption and fuel bills.

As a society, it's clear that we need to reduce the demand for energy, of which more than a quarter [27%] comes from domestic heating and hot water.  Whilst many of our homes were never built with energy efficiency in mind, we’ll need to look at how we can improve them and at the same time limit negative externalities through these improvement works such as poor air quality, condensation, and dampness.

We’ll also need to make sure that our workforce is trained to a higher standard than they currently are, and that our supply chains are more sustainable than at present. There’s a great opportunity to stimulate the national and local economies through materials, products, and services that are sourced and manufactured within the UK, where that’s both practically and financially viable of course. 

Perhaps most importantly we’ll need to make sure homeowners have a wide choice of companies, who provide both quality and affordable work. Whilst PAS 2035 can help more needs to be done.

There needs to be tight control and regulation of companies delivering against the Government standard in order to ensure consumers aren’t missold solutions, short-changed, or that a future generation doesn’t have to pick up the tab for poor workmanship and bad specification.

Welcome to the new decade, one thing is for sure it won’t be the same as the old one.