In a white paper published last week by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and Nottingham Trent University, calls for a UK-wide programme to boost the energy efficiency of existing homes through deep retrofit, stating that it’s the only way to achieve the energy-saving targets set out in the 2008 Climate Change Act.
New developments will always assist in reducing costs and improving energy performance. But 80% of the homes people will inhabit in 2050 have already been built, meaning it is not possible to rely on new builds alone. Retrofitting has other benefits too, making inefficient homes warmer, healthier and reducing bills.
Complementing the conclusions of the REVALUE project, the white paper found that current barriers to the development of a national programme include: lack of customer demand – the proposition is still not attractive enough; no effective policy driver for change; costs per home are too high as there is not yet a supply chain that can deliver deep retrofits cost-effectively, in volume and at speed; and a lack of initial financing.
To read the full white paper, please click here.
