Committee on Climate Change

Philip Sellwood has been CEO of the Energy Saving Trust since 2003. Prior to this he worked in retail, food and private equity markets. He is a member of the Government’s low-carbon vehicle partnership board and is on the Zero carbon housing task force….

Q1/ How much potential is there from energy efficiency to contribute to efforts to reduce emissions?
Domestic carbon emissions – home and transport – is half of the problem and therefore half of the solution.  And using less energy is by far the most cost effective way of reducing carbon emissions.  The more energy we can save, the less investment needed in coal or nuclear powered stations.  Furthermore, measures like insulation have life-time savings – once addressed they save carbon year on year.  There are still an estimated 6.3 million homes that need cavity wall insulation – nearly a quarter of all UK homes and half of UK homes (13 million) still need to have their lofts insulated.  Insulating all our homes properly would save nearly 7 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.  That’s the equivalent of having more than two million fewer cars on the UK’s roads.

But we need to help create the environment whereby it is easy for consumers to make their homes more energy efficient at times when it is convenient to them. For instance, when someone is moving home or having their boiler replaced, that is an ideal opportunity for them to install additional insulation.  Our research shows that 75 per cent of people would rather make energy-efficient improvements in their homes whilst the builders are already there.

 If we throw everything at our existing housing stock alone and achieve a median decarbonisation of the grid, we could reduce UK domestic carbon emissions by 50 per cent – and that’s based on today’s technologies.  Developing new technologies, like domestic wind turbines will further increase the contribution that the domestic sector can make to hitting the 80 per cent target.

These technologies need to be financially viable so that consumers will support them. That’s why we need to develop green finance packages – low or zero interest loans where the capital costs on installing the technology is paid up-front and paid back onto the grid over time through energy generation.  And we need to make sure that householders have the right advice on how to use this technology – it’s no good having a solar panel if you leave the hot tap running!  We cannot take a silo approach to energy efficiency with a single solution response – a range of policies and initiatives is needed that complement one another: advice, funding and policy.  

Q2/ What simple measures can consumers take at home to help?
There are lots of things that people can do to save energy and money; simple measures like switching to low-energy light bulbs, using energy efficient appliances and not leaving TV’s on standby, could save you up to £300 a year. When the credit crunch took hold last year, calls to our advice centre trebled because people realise that they can save money as well as help to save the environment by improving energy efficiency.  There is also massive potential to use social networking to inspire communities to act together. 2,000 community groups have signed up to our Green Communities programme which encourages people to take action and provides them with tailored advice to help them do so.

Q3/ What do you think of Government’s recent white paper? Does it go far enough?
We welcome Government’s introduction of a ‘Pay as you save’ initiative.  People tell us that the biggest barrier that stops them from making their homes more energy efficient is the need to find money to pay for the up-front costs.  We look forward to working with Government on the first 350 Green Finance projects and assessing the results to see how best to roll this out nationally.  We also welcome the £10m Community Renewables Challenge and the Community Renewables Advice online tool for communities.  If the pilots are successful this could be a great breakthrough in reducing carbon emissions.

Plans to introduce ‘clean energy cash back’ schemes, if properly designed, will remove some of the cost barriers to people generating their own low carbon energy. However, cash back schemes alone will not be enough. People still need detailed technical advice and confidence in tried and trusted technologies before they invest in larger measures.  

We are disappointed that Government has chosen not to progress its plans to require homeowners to carry out basic energy efficiency measures at the ‘natural trigger points’, when they’re doing major work on refurbishing or extending their home.  Measures such as cavity wall insulation can save the homeowner money in a very short time and you might as well get it done while the builder’s already there. This is a reasonable, logical extension of regulation – and the public tell us this makes sense for them too.