The FT has started an article with these images this morning:
I do, of course, agree. As Colin Hines and I, working as Finance for the Future have been arguing for years, we need to green the UK economy. What we have always said as part of our work on the Green New Deal is that the quickest and easiest place to start is with the UK's 30 million properties, of which around 27 million are homes.
Our argument has been that we need to release a carbon army of people, paid decent wages in unionised employment associated with long-term training programmes, to undertake energy-saving work in the first instance and to then turn every building in the UK into a power station to the greatest degree possible.
What is that energy-saving work (which happens to save bills, but more importantly saves the planet)? You start with double or triple glazing. You replace doors that belch out heat. You insulate lofts (the easiest thing to do) and walls, where appropriate. And you install better heating management e.g. with room thermostats. None of this is hard: the savings are high.
Then you move on to solar panels where possible, and heat pumps where appropriate.
The point is, this is not rocket science. It is actually pretty straightforward. But it will require a funding mechanism because paybacks are rarely in one year, and the funding mechanism has to be widely available, and easily repaid.
Is it beyond imagination to plan this? Of course it is not. But will Hunt suggest anything like this tomorrow? There is not a hope that he will. And that is the best indication there is that he is not in tune with what this country really needs.
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We desperately need something like the 1970’s housing improvement grants which were provided for substandard housing and administered by Local Authorities.
The New Carbon Army of energy auditors and support staff would work under LA auspices to draw up detailed recommendations for improvements to be undertaken by trained and accredited local companies and tradesmen.
Householders and Local Authority funding could be via Green Quantitative Easing specifically designed to improve the housing stock.
The reality of the housing market is that with a few exceptions, housing values have exceeded CPIH, by a huge amount. For individual houseowners this capital gain is not taxed on sale, and only relatively lightly on death.
So, using GQE, householders would receive a loan at the current CPI with zero monthly repayments. The cost to be repaid on the sale of the house from any capital gain over and above CPIH. If there is no gain, there is nothing to pay.
The funding for LA’s to be directly by GQE and the value to be sufficient to train initial assessors, auditors, Quantity Surveyors and office support staff. Auditing and training to include everyone doing the work.
Lots of work for lots of people. Lots of tax collected all propelled by GQE which would slowly be written off as the housing stock is sold..
Agreed
Great plan outlined there is a few paragraphs! What’s not to like there?!
A really good plan, but there would need to be another version for rented homes, many of which are in far greater need of improvment than owner-occupied homes.
Accepted
It would be interesting to know what the multiplier would be: for each £ of gov spending how many more £s this would deliver into the economy. I have no numbers on this – but it can’t be less than the 3 – 4 of health spending and importantly, given the Uk imports 50% of its gas & given most of the products needed to insulate are made in the UK – one can see a knock on effect wrt balance of payments. So very much a win-win-win situation.
I agree that the tories won’t do this – why would they? they want UK serfs to suffer (good for them you see) and using gas is good for tory party funding (the energy poor funding the tory party – now there’s a thing!).
I anticipate the usual blather-like response from Liebore to whatever nonsense ‘unt comes out with.
The OBR and Treasury think multipliers hardly exist…
I genuinely don’t know what the answer to this issue is. I live in a B listed building in south Scotland. We’ve done what we can to insulate internally, but are prohibited from doing anything to the outside. A listed buildings are even more problematic.
Accepted – this is a particular problem in Scotland due to stone construction, also an issue in some parts of Wales
You know your problem don’t you Richard? Your imagination is vastly more wide ranging than the narrow-minded numpties that make it to the top within this country’s political system which seems to value conformity to accepted norms above all else, irrespective of the degree to which those norms are discredited.
The government should also be looking at amending planning/building regulations to insist on newly constructed buildings including office space as well as housing being built with energy saving devices as standard. These technologies are not new and the only reason for not making such demands an ideological zealotry for small government.
Agreed
Agreed – because it will be portrayed as an expense and not an investment.
We could harness the power of big tech by entering a partnership with them.
Big tech would survey the UK using thermal satellite imaging in the coldest months to determine which properties have the biggest heat loss from above. Yes, I’m aware heat is lost through walls and draughts too.
Then run software to map this, exclude properties in Band D and above as they can pay for themselves on average and the incentives are already there, also exclude any of the 400k+ Listed buildings that we have, and you can then prioritise your investment programme.
We do want to save energy using the fewest resources.
Why exclude average properties?
I don’t know. Why don’t you explain why people in larger than average houses should have collective resources pushed their way without exacerbating inequality? The tax and price system provides ample incentives for them to make their own energy savings.
D is an average house
And I think climate change vital
More than important enough to make sure it happens and I know your faith in markets is misplaced
Candidly, I think you are trolling
D is an awful rating for a house in this day and age. We need to be thinking of C and up wards for ALL housing.
People very often buy what is on the market – even those better off are quite frankly being ripped off by the market that hides behind ‘caveat bloody emptor’ and is allowed to sell properties rated as low as G.
In a proper market, you would not be allowed to sell anything like that in my view. So, it’s the market that needs to be sorted out – not leaving people with expensive inefficient homes of any type. I don’t know of any market that gets away with selling faulty goods like the housing market does.
It’s a disgrace. Caveat emptor my arse! If a house had to be certain high standard of functionality before you flogged the jocker, then you’d have better housing stock all around. That would be value added by the market.
But no. The reality is that markets are extractive, exploitive and a trough for greed to feed out of. They just want the money and they’re off. It’s got to be the biggest organised racket around. The estate agents, the valuers, sellers, lawyers and DIY supermarkets have all got us by the short and curlies. When will we wake up!?
I think the reference was to council tax band….
Available data (for example Met Office) indicates that by mid century world temperatures will have risen 1.5 degs since 1900 and will rise another degree by 2100. Worryingly this is going to happen irrespective of current efforts. The scale of the problem is so massive that insulating homes is a trivial pursuit by comparison. Here in the UK we will end up with a Mediterranean climate: Warm Wet Winters – Hot Dry Summers. It is this impact that needs addressing when considering new building design and refit of old. For comfortable living controllable natural ventilation will be a necessity – not sealed interiors. And more consideration about natural cooling, i.e. use of thermal mass in relation to external insulation, to mitigate solar gain generally. And also, keep clear of low lying coastal areas. Interestingly the Dutch have allegedly already raised their dykes to resist sea level rises. Not so in the UK. Lots to think about where to profitably put the green QE
I am not wholly convinced by all your claims but flood defences are a real issue
At the risk of sounding smug I recently invested in an air source heat pump, solar panels and batteries for my home. A government grant is funding 50% of the heat pump capex. It all works a treat. My decision to go green was not entirely financial however the payback will be accelerated due to increased energy costs. The solutions exist and need the kind of ambitious approach you outline to roll them out.
My suggestion might be that when sold the buyer has to spend a percentage of the sale price on ‘energy efficiency/renewables’ according to a schedule laid down by an independent assessor.
This might be ‘tapered’ so higher value/larger properties pay proportionately more
With egg on my face, I think that you are correct about the Council Tax band, but my post is still relevant to yours – if bit a little lop-sided.
Here’s why:
Yesterday we were looking into my local authority’s Tarran 1946 built bungalows from 1944’s Temporary Housing Act. We have 72 of them and they are around 74 years old and had an age life of 60 years. We’ve done all sorts of things to make them better – new roofs, external cladding but now they are on their last legs, with EPC bandings from G to D – those in the C range are those that have been bricked around and are now privately owned through RTB. We need money to put this right – cash which we’ve either not got or are scared of spending because of today’s fiscal revelations and threats.
The thing is, all the EPCs can be found on the Gov.Uk website. The Government does not have to survey anything – it has the energy certificates for most if not all the country’s housing stock right under its nose and could use that as a diagnostic which could lead to investment and better, warmer homes under a Green New Deal initiative.
But as we’ve constantly seen with these useless Tories, they just don’t get it. They won’t spend a thing. And the wider housing market will still help to sell faulty, draughty ad inefficient homes when it could be made to do better under a Green Deal.
So, council tax/EPC banding confusion aside, my point still stands.
Good recovery!
More out of luck than design but thanks all the same!
Another vitally important subject that will never be taught in the final year at school – what constitutes the best building materials/methods and construction techniques.
The vast majority of people havn’t a clue when it comes to buying property, if they did they would never buy ‘leasehold’ – a licence to ‘legally’ rip off the mug punters.
The ignorance of so many Brits that think that cavity wall construction is good – it isn’t. It’s used because all face bricks used in the UK are porous. In the Netherlands, face bricks are semi-engineering, all joints are raked out and silver sand pointing (waterproof) is used.
The best exterior material is aercrete blocks using the ‘thin joint method’ with a crepi (waterproof additive ) finish. They are fireproof/insect proof, have excellent thermal and acoustic properties. They are made from environmentally friendly materials, can be broken down and used again and no they are not a recent innovation having been created 98 years ago by (shock) a Swedish architect. Such a house properly constructed should have an internal temperature of 19C year round, no need for AC in summer or excessive heating in winter.
The problem, not only in the UK is the powerful vested interests of outdated building product companies that governments refuse to confront.
The stupidity of building housing at ground level on flood plains or by rivers instead of either (a) using a concrete base with a waterproofing additive so that the house is built above any possible flood level or building estates with a surrounding reinforced concrete wall with one entrance/exit gate.
If you build a house with effective insulation then why is there no legislation requiring an effective air change system, many children have respiratory problems because the air is stale and full of microbes. Another really stupid idea is to continue using flushing toilets – 40% minimum of water usage in the home and much more in the homes of retired people. Human waste has far more nutrients than that of animals that composted would be a valuable resource in farming, raising the fertility of agricultural land. Highly efficient (low labour) facilities could be built to compost and sterilise the end product and effective collection methods used. 10 gallon plastic containers with snap top lids in which all kitchen waste could be added would be used. No more polluted rivers or beaches, very cost effective but again vested interests would oppose this sensible way to deal with human waste.
When has there ever been a minister of housing with actual experience in construction – never.
Thank you
Don’t I remember Jeremy Corbyn having a Green New Deal in the Labour Party Manifesto, now what ever happened to him?