Energy solution

Nick Gander and Rod Davies of Energy Carbon tackle some common concerns when preparing low-income housing ready for the future.

We live in a rapidly changing world with exciting changes in the UK impacting what we are able to supply for low-income families for their new homes.

The home needs to be ‘green’ and have low embodied carbon. It needs to have zero energy bills and should have little to no ongoing maintenance costs. It must also meet all the government’s targets for 2050, and beyond. But what does this all actually mean?

With the average household in the UK emitting 2.7 tonnes of CO2 every year from heating alone, the UK Government have introduced new regulations to help reduce carbon emissions.  Housebuilders and developers will need to comply with the new SAP10 regulations from 15th June 2022 for all new builds. Richard Bishop, Head of Marketing for UK and Ireland for Panasonic, explores why air to water heat pumps are the future for the housing sector and an essential step in challenging the climate change crisis.

With the majority of social housing tenants having contracts directly with electricity suppliers, you could be forgiven for wondering how housing associations could benefit from upgrading conventional meters to smart meters. In fact, there are many advantages for both housing associations and tenants.
In 2019 the UK Government legislated to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. One result of this has been to put pressure on housing associations to decarbonise the UK’s social housing stock, though housing associations in some areas need to move even faster because local authorities have committed to decarbonisation by 2030.  

Energy theft is a serious problem for housing associations and there are a number of reasons for this. In this article we will focus on the theft of electricity, though tampering with gas supplies and meters can have devastating consequences if a leak causes an explosion.
Interfering with electricity supplies and meters can be extremely dangerous. Electric shock can cause burns, injury or death, not only for the culprit but also cohabitants, neighbours, future tenants, housing association staff and contractors. As they are landlords, housing associations have a statutory responsibility for electrical safety as well as a duty to prevent personal injury caused by defects in the property. They also have a duty of care towards staff and contractors.

What do the pioneering ReFLEX Orkney project, the unique ‘Solopower’ solution, and the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator all have in common? They are either led by or partnering with one innovative energy services company, SMS plc, which is on a mission to support housing organisations with long-term sustainability and fuel poverty targets.
The intelligent application of distributed green energy technologies – in tandem with new financing solutions that aim to make mass rollout across UK homes realistically deliverable and widely affordable – has potential not only to help Britain fully decarbonise, but also dramatically reduce rates of fuel poverty in the process.

Solar panels – the public know what they are, but just how much do they really know about them? Surprisingly little, according to research* revealed today by Wienerberger, the UK’s leading provider of wall, roof and landscaping innovations, which is aiming to make installing solar simpler for consumers by launching its new solar panel offering this week.

• 1 in 3 people aspire to have solar panels on their home, however over 40% of people over-estimate the cost of solar panel installation
• Nearly 1 in 5 believe that they can only be fitted on houses with south facing gardens
• Price, cost savings and aesthetic are the most important factors when it comes to considering installing solar