探花直播 of Cambridge - Cristina Penasco

Insulation only provides short-term reduction in household gas consumption

fpjl2 — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 09:52:05 +0000

Insulating the lofts and cavity walls of existing UK housing stock only reduces gas consumption for the first year or two, with all energy savings vanishing by the fourth year after a retrofit, according to research from policy experts at the 探花直播 of Cambridge.

探花直播latest study is the first to track in detail household gas use across England and Wales for at least five years both before and after insulation installation.

Researchers analysed gas consumption patterns of more than 55,000 dwellings over twelve years (2005-2017), and found that cavity wall insulation led to an average 7% drop in gas during the first year. This shrank to 2.7% in the second, and by the fourth year, any energy savings were negligible. 聽聽

Loft insulation was half as effective as cavity wall, with an initial fall in gas consumption of around 4% on average, dropping to 1.8% after one year and becoming insignificant by the second year. For households with conservatories*, any gains in energy efficiency disappeared after the first year. 聽

探花直播findings suggests that when it comes to home insulation there may be a significant 'rebound effect': any savings through energy efficiency get cancelled out by a steady increase in energy use.**

探花直播UK Treasury recently announced some 拢6 billion in funding to reduce the energy consumption of buildings and industry by 15% over the next eight years, with a major focus on insulation retrofits across the residential sector.聽

Researchers behind the study, published in the journal Energy Economics, say it is extremely difficult to identify specific causes of the 'rebound effect' they found, but behaviours such as turning up the heating, opening windows in stuffy rooms or building extensions may all contribute.

They argue that good insulation is vital, but any drive to insulate UK homes should be combined with investment in heat pump installation and campaigns to encourage behaviour change if 2030 targets for energy independence are to be met. 聽聽

To capture the overall effect of insulating homes, the researchers accounted for various factors, including the age and size of buildings, the weather and gas prices.

However, they did find that gas price influenced energy use 鈥� so the soaring cost of gas may mean greater energy reductions from insulation now than during the study period. 探花直播research also found household gas consumption fluctuated less after both loft and cavity wall insulation. 聽聽聽聽

鈥� 探花直播recent spotlight on increasing the energy efficiency in UK buildings is both welcome and long overdue, and there are very real benefits to households from good insulation, not least in terms of health and comfort,鈥� said study co-author Prof Laura Diaz Anadon, Director of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance.

鈥淗owever, home insulation alone is not a magic bullet. High gas prices will reduce the rebound effect in the short term, as homeowners have the need to keep costs down at the front of their minds. In the long term, simply funding more of the same insulation roll-out to meet the UK鈥檚 carbon reduction and energy security targets may not move the dial as much as is hoped.鈥�

Anadon and her Cambridge co-author Dr Cristina Penasco say that insulating old and draughty housing across the UK is a vital step, but argue that not encouraging homeowners to 鈥渇ully degasify heating鈥� while going through the disruption of a retrofit is a missed opportunity.

Heat pumps, which extract warmth from outside to heat internal radiators, are highly efficient and negate the need for gas boilers. Recent research suggests the UK lags behind many other European countries on heat pump sales, and the UK Committee on Climate Change has also highlighted the need to speed up heat pump deployment.

鈥淲hen trying to get middle income households to conduct energy renovations, as the government are currently doing, it makes sense to further encourage heat pump installation at the same time," said Penasco, the study鈥檚 first author from Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Politics and International Studies.

鈥淭his could be through incentives such as more generous and focused grant schemes, as well as obligations for boiler manufacturers and additional investments in skills for installers.鈥�

鈥淲e found that energy efficiency retrofits are often combined with home improvements that actually increase consumption, such as extensions.鈥�*** Scotland currently offers grants and interest free loans for heat pumps, while the rest of the UK has reduced VAT in the form of a tax rebate.

Residential housing accounted for almost a third (29.5%) of the UK鈥檚 total energy consumption in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency. In the UK, 85% of households use gas as their main heating source.聽

探花直播study used data collected by the UK鈥檚 Department of Energy and Climate Change, and compared energy use in individual households before and after insulation, as well as comparing households that did have efficiency renovations with those that did not.

Researchers found that, compared to wealthier areas, households in more deprived areas had half the reductions in gas use: an average of 3% during the first and second year after insulation. Neighbourhoods where deprivation was highest had the lowest reduction in gas consumption.

鈥淗ouseholds in more deprived areas often have to limit energy use, so any savings created by home insulation can quickly get redirected into keeping a house warmer for longer,鈥� said Penasco

鈥淭his is a good outcome if policies are aimed at reducing fuel poverty in low-income households, but will not help with the UK鈥檚 emissions reductions targets or reliance on gas.鈥� In fact, when it came to household income, those in the bottom 20% increased gas consumption straight after insulation. 聽

鈥淣ational caps on gas prices will not incentivise people to conserve energy,鈥� said Penasco, who argues that energy reduction targets could be set for individual households, and associated with waivers on energy bills in the long run, particularly for low income households.

Added Anadon: 鈥淧eople do not deliberately squander energy savings. There is a need for education to lessen the rebound effect we have documented. Media appearances by ministers to discuss flow temperatures of boilers are positive signs that parts of the government are starting to think about this.鈥�

聽

*Conservatories are one of the most popular home improvements in the UK. Data from 2011 suggests that almost 20% of households in England had some form of conservatory, and 80% of those had some form of heating.

** 探花直播'rebound effect' is a fundamental concept in economics, and was first identified by William Jevons in 1865, when he observed that more efficient steam engines increased rather than reduced coal use, as engines were put into more widespread use. 聽

*** Previous research suggests that extensions in the UK increase household energy consumption by 16% on average.聽聽聽

For more information on聽energy-related research in Cambridge, please visit聽Energy聽IRC, which brings together Cambridge鈥檚 research knowledge and expertise, in collaboration with global partners, to create solutions for a sustainable and resilient energy landscape for generations to come.聽

First study to look at long-term effect of home insulation in England and Wales finds fall in gas consumption per household was small and only lasts a few years.

We found that energy efficiency retrofits are often combined with home improvements that actually increase consumption, such as extensions

Cristina Penasco

Getty images

Man installing loft insulation

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Low-carbon policies can be 鈥榖alanced鈥� to benefit small firms and average households 鈥� study

fpjl2 — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 14:51:25 +0000

Some of the low-carbon policy options currently used by governments may be detrimental to households and small businesses less able to manage the short-term costs of聽energy price hikes, according to a new study.

However, it also suggests that this menu of decarbonising policies, from quotas to feed-in tariffs, can be designed and balanced to benefit local firms and lower-income families 鈥� vital for achieving 鈥楴et Zero鈥� carbon and a green recovery.

探花直播 of Cambridge researchers combed through thousands of studies to create the most comprehensive analysis to date of widely used types of low-carbon policy, and compared how they perform in areas such as cost and competitiveness.

探花直播findings are published today in the journal Nature Climate Change. 探花直播researchers also poured all their data into an interactive online tool that allows users to explore evidence around carbon-reduction policies from across the globe.

鈥淧reventing climate change cannot be the only goal of decarbonisation policies,鈥� said study lead author Dr Cristina Pe帽asco, a public policy expert from the 探花直播 of Cambridge.

鈥淯nless low-carbon policies are fair, affordable and economically competitive, they will struggle to secure public support 鈥� and further delays in decarbonisation could be disastrous for the planet.鈥�

Around 7,000 published studies were whittled down to over 700 individual findings. These results were coded to allow comparison 鈥� with over half the studies analysed 鈥渂lind鈥� by different researchers to avoid bias.聽

探花直播ten policy 鈥渋nstruments鈥� covered in the study include forms of investment 鈥� targeted R&D funding, for example 鈥� as well as financial incentives including different kinds of subsidies, taxes, and the auctioning of energy contracts.

探花直播policies also include market interventions 鈥� e.g. emissions permits; tradable certificates for clean or saved energy 鈥� and efficiency standards, such as those for buildings.

Researchers looked at whether each policy type had a positive or negative effect in various environmental, industrial and socio-economic areas. 聽

When it came to 鈥渄istributional consequences鈥� 鈥� the fairness with which the costs and benefits are spread 鈥� the mass of evidence suggests that the impact of five of the ten policy types are far more negative than positive.

鈥淪mall firms and average households have less capacity to absorb increases in energy costs,鈥� said co-author Laura Diaz Anadon, Professor of Climate Change Policy.

鈥淪ome of the investment and regulatory policies made it harder for small and medium-size firms to participate in new opportunities or adjust to changes.

鈥淚f policies are not well designed and vulnerable households and businesses experience them negatively, it could increase public resistance to change 鈥� a major obstacle in reaching net zero carbon,鈥� said Anadon.

For example, feed-in tariffs pay renewable electricity producers above market rates. But these costs may bump energy prices for all if they get passed on to households 鈥� leaving the less well-off spending a larger portion of their income on energy.

Renewable electricity traded as 鈥榞reen certificates鈥� can redistribute wealth from consumers to energy companies 鈥� with 83% of the available evidence suggesting they have a 鈥渘egative impact鈥�, along with 63% of the evidence for energy taxes, which can disproportionately affect rural areas.

However, the vast tranche of data assembled by the researchers reveals how many of these policies can be designed and aligned to complement each other, boost innovation, and pave the way for a fairer transition to zero carbon.

For example, tailoring feed-in tariffs (FiTs) to be 鈥減redictable yet adjustable鈥� can benefit smaller and more dispersed clean energy projects 鈥� improving market competitiveness and helping to mitigate local NIMBY-ism.

Moreover, revenues from environmental taxes could go towards social benefits or tax credits e.g. reducing corporate tax for small firms and lowering income taxes, providing what researchers call a 鈥渄ouble dividend鈥�: stimulating economies while reducing emissions.

探花直播researchers argue that creating a 鈥渂alance鈥� of well-designed and complementary policies can benefit different renewable energy producers and 鈥渃lean鈥� technologies at various stages.

Government funding for research and development (R&D) that targets small firms can help attract other funding streams 鈥� boosting both eco-innovation and competitiveness. When combined with R&D tax credits, it predominantly supports innovation in startups rather than corporations.

Government procurement, using tiered contracts and bidding, can also improve innovation and market access for smaller businesses in 鈥渆conomically stressed鈥� areas. This could aid the 鈥渓evelling up鈥� between richer and poorer regions as part of any green recovery.

鈥淭here is no one-size-fits-all solution,鈥� said Pe帽asco. 鈥淧olicymakers should deploy incentives for innovation, such as targeted R&D funding, while also adapting tariffs and quotas to benefit those across income distributions.

鈥淲e need to spur the development of green technology at the same time as achieving public buy-in for the energy transition that must start now to prevent catastrophic global heating,鈥� she said.

Pe帽asco and Anadon contributed to the recent report from Cambridge Zero 鈥� the 探花直播鈥檚 climate change initiative. In it, they argue for piloting a UK government research programme akin to ARPA in the US, but focused on new net-zero technologies.

Prof Laura Diaz Anadon is Director of Cambridge鈥檚 Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG). 探花直播review was also co-authored by Prof Elena Verdolini from the RFF-CMCC European institute on Economics and the Environments (EIEE) and the聽Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change and 探花直播 of Brescia. Anadon and Verdolini lead part of the EU project INNOPATHS that funded the research.

A review of ten types of policy used to reduce carbon suggests that some costs fall on those less able to bear them 鈥� but it also shows these policies can form the bedrock of a 鈥榞reen recovery鈥� if specifically designed and used in tandem.

Unless low-carbon policies are fair, affordable and economically competitive, they will struggle to secure public support

Cristina Pe帽asco

Thomas Richter

Wind turbines

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