Why Do British Homes Still Waste So Much Energy?

With so much good work being done around the country to improve people’s knowledge about going green, it can be something of a shock to realise just how much energy still gets wasted around the country.

An intriguing heatmap showing the UK’s energy wastage shows that more than half of homes across the country need to improve their energy efficiency. The figures vary from one region to another, but the overall picture is of a lot of houses that need to be made more energy efficient.

Why is this still the case? You would think that, by now, the importance of making our homes more energy efficient would be obvious to all of us. To help us understand the reason for all of this wasted energy, one energy supplier commissioned a poll of 1,000 people to ask about their views on making their homes more energy efficient. Below are details of the main reasons why there is still so much energy wasted on domestic heating in the country; some of which are surprising.

Not A Big Enough Concern
One of the most surprising statistics to come out of the report was that about a third of the people surveyed didn’t consider energy saving to be that big of a deal. This includes those who do not consider energy efficiency to be important enough to do something about it in their home. This is a much higher figure than might have been expected. After all, energy efficiency is a hot subject and some very interesting figures are out in the public domain. For instance, the average UK household could save ￡145 a year with cavity wall insulation, around ￡100 with double glazing and close to ￡300 with a new boiler. These big savings should be enough to encourage most householders to put some effort into considering how to get the improvements carried out. Certainly, with many of us looking for ways to save some money, it seems like an obvious way to try and do this.

Not Enough Money
46% of the people surveyed put the reason for not having a more energy efficient home down to the cost of doing this. This seems like a reasonable enough thought at first. Anyone who has looked into getting work carried out to make their home conserve more energy may have been put off by the prices quoted for carrying out the work. However, having just looked at the average amount of savings achieved on energy bills it is easy to see that this is the type of job that pays for itself before too long. In some cases, it has been calculated that it only takes a couple of years to pay off the cost, as in the example of loft insulation. Other improvements will take longer to pay for themselves but the ongoing savings achieved mean that the initial outlay will be paid for bit by bit, over time. It would seem clear that the sooner you start the earlier the work can pay for itself, making way for savings every month on the energy bills.

Not Enough Government Help
Another big surprise came with the news that 36% of people lay the blame for not having a more energy efficient home at the door of the government. Blaming the lack of government help seems to suggest that many householders aren’t aware of the excellent incentives already in place to encourage more energy efficient homes across the country. The Green Deal is one such initiative that has received a lot of publicity in recent times. This is a scheme designed to help everyone who wants to make their home greener, and needs some financial assistance to do so. It is open to residents of England, Scotland and Wales, with a simple assessment needed to check whether or not help can be provided in each case. The other scheme worth mentioning here is ECO (Energy Companies Obligation). This is another terrific government incentive that will run until March 2015. The aim of this project is to help UK householders reduce carbon emissions by making their properties more energy efficient. It is funded by the country’s energy suppliers, and has already seen a huge amount of cash handed over to people who needed help to improve their home. You can find out more about this great scheme here.

The most popular reasons given for not making houses more energy efficient seem reasonable enough at first sight. However, anyone who wants to save money on their bills and help the planet at the same time doesn’t have to settle for these reasons. Instead, a little bit of investigation will show them that it is possible to get the work done in a way that suits them, and without a lot of hassle.

– Violet Henry