MPs demand better energy efficiency in new homes

Image: Dreamstime/Lance Bellers

Construction firms should be compelled to deliver the latest efficiency standards in new homes if the government is to reach its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to MPs.

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said in a new report that improving the energy efficiency of buildings was “vital” to meeting climate change obligations.

But it claimed that the rate of installations of energy efficient products in homes had gone “backwards”, with insulation measures installed in houses under government schemes now 95% lower than in 2012.

The report said energy efficiency was a national infrastructure priority and called on the government to designate it as such, as well as allocating more central funding for energy efficiency.

More robust regulations neeeded

And it urged the government to introduce more robust building regulations, after finding that house builders are currently able to exploit loopholes that allow them to build homes to outdated standards and sell homes that do not meet advertised energy standards. 

The report also highlighted the what it said were low levels of per-capita investment in residential energy efficiency schemes in England compared with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It also called on the government to set out how it intends to meet its target for all homes to reach EPC Band C by 2035, which it called an “empty commitment” and also recommended that it “drastically increases” the £5m allocated to the Green Home Finance Innovation Fund, which is desgined to encourage the private sector to develop finance products to incentivise households to make energy efficiency improvements.  

Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said: “Improving energy efficiency is by far the cheapest way of cutting our emissions and must be a key plank of any credible strategy to deliver net zero by 2050. If the government lacks the political will to deliver energy efficiency improvements, how can we expect it to get on with the costlier actions needed to tackle climate change?

"More energy efficient buildings are not only crucial for tackling climate change but are vital for lowering customers’ energy bills and lifting people out of fuel poverty. Despite a consensus on what needs to be done, Ministers have continued to sit on their hands and failed to deliver the policies needed to boost energy efficiency. 

"The government needs to commit to investing in schemes to ensure all buildings are brought up to the highest energy efficiency standards. The government has failed to close loopholes in regulations that allow builders to develop to outdated standards and also enabled builders to sell homes that do not meet the standards advertised.”