Retrofit Needed to Avoid Worse Energy Crisis in 2023, says Actis

IN ORDER to avoid a worse energy crisis in 2023, the UK should focus on retrofitting home insulation before spending resources on other measures, says Actis.

The insulation specialist says it is seeing a rise in enquiries for its products following the latest leaps in fuel prices which have created a shorter payback period for retrofit improvements.

The rise in enquiries comes as a government think tank urges the new Prime Minister to look longer term at tackling the energy crisis by helping householders with the cost of home insulation.

The think tank, the Institute for Government (IfG), produced a report this month Tackling the UK’s Energy Efficiency Problem pointing out that the UK’s housing stock is the oldest and least energy efficient in Europe.

“If the government focuses only on short-term financial support, and long-term measures to boost supply that are unlikely to have a major impact, it will find itself in an even more difficult position in a year’s time,” its authors warned.

Worse Energy Crisis in 2023

The report says that the UK could face an even worse energy crisis in 2023 if it does not look to improve insulation in homes. It cites a 2020 study which suggested that a UK home with an indoor temperature of 20⁰C and an outside temperature of 0⁰C lost 3⁰C of heat on average over 5 hours.

In the report, the IfG says government’s new energy price guarantee does not tackle the root cause of excess domestic energy use, and calls for more support to enable householders to insulate their homes.

Thomas Wiedmer, Actis UK and Ireland Technical Director

Actis UK and Ireland Technical Director, architect Thomas Wiedmer, says that as more than 25% of the UK’s traditional housing stock is more than a century old, action must be taken to stem the flow of heat leaching from these homes. Recent enquiries to its technical desk and increases in sales suggest there is greater interest in taking action to retrofit such properties – driven in part by the shorter payback period.

Insulation Payback

The new energy price guarantee comes into effect in October and means payback periods on insulating a roof alone are now as little as three years. A similar payback period applies to insulating just the walls or the suspended timber floors.

“It now makes more financial sense to ensure that the existing building fabric is as energy efficient as possible before spending resources on other measures. Insulation is generally among the most cost effective and long-lasting measure and a reduction in energy use is good for the environment,” said Thomas.

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