Wednesday 9 October 2019

There’s a missing piece from the UK’s environmental efforts…

Less than 3% of all climate change conversations in the media during the last two years made any reference to energy efficiency.

That's according to a new report from Smart Energy GB, which claims although environmental action is generally at an all-time high, with many people making efforts to tackle single-use plastic and switch to renewables, without an increased focus on the issue of energy efficiency the UK will miss its green goals.

It stresses if every household across the country took action on energy efficiency now, this alone could achieve 11% of the UK’s 2050 carbon target.

The report highlights that if the nation is to meet its targets of reducing its carbon emissions by 51% by 2025 and by 57% by 2030, relative to our emissions in 1990, a combination of technology upgrades and collective action are "vital".

It says installing a smart meter is one way households can help to make an immediate impact, by allowing the grid to know exactly how much energy is needed and when, helping the entire country become more efficient in the way it generates, distributes and consumes energy.

The report notes: "Energy efficiency is a crucial component for meeting our national carbon targets and for tackling climate change. It reduces energy waste across all areas of the economy. Our homes offer significant potential for reducing energy demand on a national level.

"This can be through connecting homes into a smart energy system via smart meters; the national rollout of building fabric improvements so that homes use less energy for heating and cooling; and improvements to the efficiency of the appliances we use or smarter controls for our heating and appliances."