Sign Up
Log in

Energy efficiency

Latest in Energy efficiency

High energy bills lead businesses to invest in efficiency upgrades
Higher energy bills are leading businesses to invest in energy efficiency measures, new government-commissioned research reveals. Three-quarters of businesses said they have taken steps to limit their energy use in the last year, in response to rising prices. Of those around two in five (43%) had invested in energy-efficient technology.
News
Scottish heat upgrade plan labelled a ‘time bomb’
Scottish Government plans that could give the country’s homeowners and businesses two years to rip out their fossil fuel heating systems have been branded a “time bomb” by the opposition Conservatives. A consultation on a proposed Heat and Buildings Bill, outlines a swathe of tough new targets for accelerating uptake of energy efficiency and low carbon heating measures north of the border. It confirms that the use of “polluting” fossil fuel heating systems will be prohibited after 2045.
News
Scots scheme delivers just 215 home upgrades in three years
Just 215 private rented properties have secured energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades under a scheme set up by the Scottish Government three years ago. This equates to 0.06% of all eligible private rented homes north of the border, according to the Scottish Lib Dems.
News
Mass insulation could cut child asthma by two-thirds
Improving the energy efficiency of fuel poor households could slash the number of children suffering from asthma by 700,000, Energy UK’s deputy chief executive has told MPs. That equates to around two-thirds of the 1.1m children who Asthma UK estimates are receiving treatment for the condition
News
Government at risk of missing fuel poverty milestone
The chair of the Committee on Fuel Poverty Caroline Flint has urged the government to come down harder on private landlords whose properties don’t meet legal Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). In a letter to energy secretary Claire Coutinho, Flint warns that “time is running out” to meet the government’s 2025 fuel poverty milestone unless 704,000 poorly-insulated, private rented properties are prioritised for “urgent upgrading”.
News
What the Autumn statement holds for energy sector
The upcoming autumn statement by chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt is being billed as one of the government’s last opportunities to restore its flagging political fortunes. So what does the energy sector want from the Treasury’s showpiece end of year event and what is it likely to see?
Analysis
Supply chain put off ECO4 by ‘overly complex’ rules
The government has been warned that its flagship energy efficiency programme is falling off “a cliff edge” because it is too complex. Energy firms, policy thinktanks, fuel poverty charities and trade associations have all called for the Energy Companies Obligation 4 (ECO4) scheme to be simplified.
News
Eon backs stamp duty rebates for energy efficiency upgrades
Suppliers have backed tax breaks for homeowners and landlords that carry out energy efficiency upgrades, as speculation mounts that such measures will feature in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement later this month. In its submission to the House of Commons energy security and net zero committee’s inquiry into heating for homes, Eon has backed the introduction of an Energy Saving Stamp Duty Incentive, while Good Energy calls for VAT cuts for low-carbon technologies and home energy efficiency improvements.
News
Tory-linked think tanks lobby for energy efficiency rebate
A trio of think tanks with links to the Conservative Party have backed proposals which would see new homeowners receive a stamp duty rebate for upgrading the efficiency of their properties. Under the proposal new homeowners who improve the energy efficiency of their properties in the first two years of ownership would receive a stamp duty rebate.
News
Heat pump funding pot tipped to be ‘blown’ before deadline
A leading advocate of heat pumps has suggested that the current funding pot which provides grants to the public “could be blown” before the end of March 2024. Bean Beanland, director for growth & external affairs at the Heat Pump Federation, told Utility Week that the combination of increased grants coupled with more competitive tariffs could see the remaining £113 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) budget used up before the current funding round ends.  
News
IEA: Golden age of gas is nearing an end
The “golden age of gas […] is nearing an end” and demand will begin to decline from the start of the 2030s, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has declared. A global shift to renewables and the “rise of heat pumps” will see gas use slow over the next decade before the market goes into decline in the 2030s, the IEA’s annual World Energy Outlook predicts. In another blow to global gas markets, the IEA states that the outlook for hydrogen “is clouded by cost inflation, uncertainty around policy details and supply chain bottlenecks”.
News
Sunak scrapped insulation targets to avoid landlord exodus
Rishi Sunak scrapped energy efficiency targets to avoid a mass exodus of landlords in the private housing sector, an energy minister has revealed. In his controversial net zero speech last month, the prime minister rowed back on targets which were aimed at making rented properties more energy efficiency. This included a requirement for all landlords to upgrade their properties to meet the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) Band C standard. Energy efficiency minister Lord Callanan has now revealed that fears of a landlord backlash sparked the move.
News
Close
Clear
Close

Request a call back