Consistency key to cosy homes, says EST

Mixed messages on energy efficiency are costing UK householders dear. Clear, consistent advice is called for.

There’s something curiously attractive about measures to save energy in the home. On the one hand, they play to our desire for warmth and comfort, and on the other, to our pride. Who wants to hang on to a poorly insulated home while the neighbours take advantage of the latest offer to give their home the duvet treatment. They invite you round for mulled wine when the work is over. She’s wearing a sleeveless dress and takes you aside to whisper, smugly, that the heating isn’t even on…

And so, perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s no shortage of people looking to make their home more snug, and save money, too.

“Three million people contact us every year for advice on implementing simple domestic solutions,” says Marian Spain, Head of Strategy at the Energy Saving Trust (EST). “And about 20% of those people are talking radical change: microgeneration, solid wall insulation...”

One of the main problems they face, says Spain, is knowing who to trust for advice. “It’s a crowded world, with guidance and implementation packages on offer from supermarkets, construction firms and utilities to local authorities and the third sector.”

Limiting the sources of information would be counter-productive. There’s both room for – and the need for – all of these services, if the UK is to meet its Low Carbon Transition Plan target of reducing household emissions by 29% on 2008 levels by 2020 (see ‘Between four walls’ box, right).

That’s why the EST is backing a UK partnership which, so far, has opened three Sainsbury’s Home Energy Centres, with staff from utility EDF on hand to offer advice on heating and insulation services to shoppers. Other schemes are bringing advice to your door, and tackling whole communities at a time (see "Fighting fuel poverty? Call the doctor", GF 75).

But, Spain argues, unless there is a consistent message coming from all sources, homeowners risk going away thinking that it’s all more complicated than they’d hoped.

For the EST, consistency goes beyond agreeing on facts and figures. At the moment, the accessibility of information varies from one local authority to the next, making real savings a sort of postcode lottery, and seasonal deals add confusion to the task of working out how much a job will cost. A first step would be for Government to work with energy companies to make information about the costs and services more transparent.

It’s also vital that the consumer can be certain that they’re going to get what they pay for. This means ensuring new technologies are tried and tested before they are sold, and that the supply chain has the skills to install them. Ideally, any work done on a house would improve its efficiency rating, becoming part and parcel of what builders do – not an optional extra. Local authorities can lead on this by providing training programmes and forming partnerships to target specific communities. EST is already working with over 100 local authorities to get the basic tools and skills in place.

And the ideal set-up? “When we talk about consumers, we’re talking about ourselves,” says Spain. “We get most of our advice from the people around us – our colleagues and friends. So, if those people, and the ones you meet on your daily rounds – the shop assistant, the heating engineer, the builder – are all giving you the same message, you’ll hear it.” 

–  Anna Simpson

3 February 2010

Anna Simpson