LivGreen - Retrofit Specialists’ Post

⁉️ Why is it so difficult to make UK homes energy efficient? A great article by Leyla Boulton. I couldn’t have put it better myself - “this wild landscape needs a safari coordinator, armed with a 10-15 year itinerary, that cannot be ditched with every change of government!” The private sector can do many things across retrofit services, finance, installation and tech to innovate and improve customer experience to decarbonise UK homes. The problem is a Government lacking clarity on what UK households must do and lacking resources to successfully deliver when the funding is in place (LADS and HUG come to mind). One interesting comment highlighted by Leyla was the risk of the retrofit journey becoming “lazy and expensive if one organisation were to do it all.” I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. The vision at Furbnow is to deliver efficiencies and value by bringing it all together. As independent experts, we provide a clear end-to-end retrofit journey while aligning customers’ interests with our own. If we provide insurance or guarantee your home retrofit, we’ll do everything we can to drive quality. If cost is an issue, we’ll work with finance providers to reduce the barrier. That's the beauty of a customer-first mindset. It's about building the business with the right metrics (for us: projects completed and CO2 emissions reduced), while being incentivised appropriately by the policy environment. Throwing £5k Green Home Grants at homeowners won't encourage customer-first businesses. Am I missing a trick? Jamie Leverton Nick Begy Laurence Watson Jim Butler George Day Tom Elliott Guy Newey Graham Lock Simon Briggs Madeleine Gabriel Matt Seden Tania Jennings Cara Jenkinson Chris Brown Juliet Phillips Sara Edmonds Jade Lewis Rachael Owens Louis Daillencourt David Adams Jo Wheeler Chris Gaskell Tom Jarman Colm Watling Simon Andrews Ellie Horwitch-Smith Aadil Qureshi Daniel Särefjord Jon Kirby Donal Brown Emily Braham Ele George George Simms Sebastien Michaud Kingma Ma

Thanks for starting this conversation, Leyla Boulton. The best place to start with our drive to make homes more energy efficient is with new builds. We already have technologies to equip every new home to generate and store all the energy they need for much of the year, including guilt-free EV driving powered by free electricity from their roofs. The marginal cost of heat pumps, 100% solar-generating roofs using our patented BIPV roofing tiles, battery storage, smart inverters and our EnSmartCTR energy management system adds 2-5% to the cost of a new home but slashes lifetime energy costs by more than 20%, and even generates revenues for households. This should be an easy sell. Retrofitting is a bit trickier, but only just. It should not be as hard and full of pitfalls as it is, and your excellent article shows what can be done. We at Entrust Microgrid believe that if new builds could set a clear example, then owners of old buildings could clearly see what they could aspire to, and demand the financial and environmental benefits of energy-efficient homes.

Trade press plays a pivotal role in PR, serving as a direct line of communication to your specific industry and driving standards among your peers. Positioning Rebecca A. and Making Energy Greener in Energy & Sustainability Solutions provides a platform to not only engage with the industry, but in this case, highlight a vital initiative that can help improve living standards in the UK. Leveraging press like this can ultimately serve the public and spark action. #publicrelations #pr #energysaving

The majority of UK homes are in urgent need of energy #Retrofits. 🏠 According to a recent report by Rightmove, 55% of the UK's housing stock has an energy rating of EPC D or below, often resulting in more costly energy bills for occupants. Read the full article here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/e74c-xSX #Housing #EnergySavings #EnergyRetrofit #Retrofitting

Another milestone for home energy improvement scheme More than 2000 Believe Housing customers are now feeling the benefit of work to make their homes more energy efficient. The housing association has received more than £10m from the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), and is investing a further £8.5m, to upgrade around 3,100 homes. The ongoing scheme focuses on homes with an Energy Performance Certificate rating below C which most benefit from measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation, ventilation, heating controls, and energy efficient lighting. Some homes also receive external wall insulation, floor insulation, and solar panels to generate clean electricity. Ruth Dent, Director of Assets and Compliance at believe housing, said: “Reaching the 2,000th home on the scheme was a huge achievement and would not have been possible without incredible work by Believe Housing and our delivery partner RE:GEN Group. Customers are at the heart of everything we do so it is lovely to hear how satisfied they are with the work, which is making their homes warmer, healthier, greener and cheaper to run.” https://lnkd.in/gYrfwb_9 #Sustainable #Housing #Energy #Efficiency #Ventilation

Check out the video on the Scottish proposal to addressing poorly performing buildings…absolute targets not relative targets and more… Consultation on the proposed Scottish equivalent to Passive House and implementation of new uplifted standards: https://lnkd.in/gJWmjCQJ Embodied Carbon was mentioned as out of scope of these building regulations as being worked as part of other new building regulations…really interested if you know or there are targets being set for embodied carbon, please add in the comments below. Thanks. Plus, are there proposals to include use or onsite renewables like PH+ and PH Premium as part of any Scottish building regulations under development…super keen to read about these if that’s also happening. Thanks again. And any work underway on retrofit standards for Scottish buildings? Cheers. In the meantime, check out the video on the PassivHaus Trust website, link is again: https://lnkd.in/gJWmjCQJ

We're excited to share that we've joined forces with industry leaders by signing a pivotal letter in response to the government's consultation on the Future Homes Standard and the Home Energy Model. ✍🏻 This step is crucial as we aim to bridge the gap towards a sustainable future, addressing key issues in energy efficiency and the adoption of green technologies. Our commitment at Trust goes beyond just providing efficient heating solutions. By advocating for a more balanced energy pricing structure and supporting policies that favour sustainable energy solutions, we're actively working towards making green technologies, like our NEOS electric radiator, more accessible. We’ll continue to champion a sustainable heating future and contribute to shaping policies that support innovative low-carbon technologies that will help the UK achieve the 2050 Net Zero Target.🌎 #Sustainability #FutureHomesStandard #TrustElectricHeating #InnovationForChange

♨️ Energy efficiency and retrofit pose a significant obstacle for owners living in traditional tenement buildings. How can Scottish flat owners overcome these obstacles? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Find out in our article on "Overcoming the challenges of retrofitting traditional buildings" https://lnkd.in/eD3Byvw4 #TenementMaintenance #CommonRepairs #PropertyManagement

"We could produce 2.5 times the power currently being produced by the polluting Portlands gas plant on the city’s waterfront. The huge potential to turn these asphalt expanses into power production centres comes with many benefits, from helping Toronto meet its climate reduction goals, to reducing heat radiated from these paved surfaces, to producing power to charge EVs onsite. It’s even good for the cars parked under the panels, with shade for vehicles on hot summer days, and less ice and snow accumulation in winter. It is also, of course, a far healthier way to meet our energy needs than burning fossil gas. Tell Mayor Chow, your Councilor, and the CEOs of Toronto Hydro (Jana Mosley) and the IESO (Lesley Gallinger) to get going on an accelerated plan to add solar to parking lots >>There is a huge opportunity to deploy solar panels on the more than 7,000 large parking lots in Toronto – eliminating the need to continue running the polluting Portlands gas plant.   By turning these single use asphalt pads into power producers, we can avoid 1.9 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2030. That is the equivalent of the annual emissions from 582,000 passenger vehicles.  This would incentivize what is currently a huge missed opportunity to make our air cleaner, and to meet local electricity demand without expensive transmission system upgrades or expanding gas plants. France has set a target of having 50% of its large parking lot areas producing solar power by 2028. There is no reason why we shouldn't be doing the same here." "What you can do Please contact Mayor Chow and the CEOs of the IESO (Lesley Gallinger) and Toronto Hydro (Jana Mosley). Ask them to work together to develop a plan to promote the installation of solar panels on Toronto’s large open air parking lots, including a standard offer price for the supply of solar electricity to Toronto Hydro’s grid. Click here to send your message" https://lnkd.in/d4SCuxrX #cleaner #cheaper #fossilgashighcarbon #oxygenisdecreasing Please Act Now-Sign and Share! Share by email or Twitter: https://lnkd.in/dmTXkFCJ #onlyrenewablescanreplacegas !

We are delighted to support the launch of RePower London as part of the NLA series. Channa Karunaratne, our District Energy Market Sector Lead has contributed to the RePower London campaign via an article which discusses how heat networks have become a key power behind the energy transition in London. The RePower London report advocates for a place-based, people-centric approach to decarbonising London’s ageing infrastructure and bringing sustainable growth back to our capital. It highlights the need for site-specific solutions to address challenges like the housing crisis, climate change, and economic uncertainty, aligning with the new Labour government’s clean energy goals. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e9MtBiwY Find out more about RePower London https://lnkd.in/ebhu-Ves #AECOM #Decarbonisation #London #EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy #Infrastructure #Climate