Help me help you to save the planet

‘The housing sector could be the get out of jail card for the next government, of whatever persuasion.’

This unequivocal endorsement comes from Alan Simpson MP, chair of carbon cutting advocates the Existing Homes Alliance and, in his own words, ‘the proud owner and constructor of an eco-home’. Mr Simpson, who says his own house generates more energy than it uses, is not alone in arguing that social landlords could be the key to meeting government targets to cut UK carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

The experts agree that housing has a crucial part to play in the fight against climate change. The facts make it easy to see why. The UK’s 27 million homes contribute 27 per cent of the country’s carbon emissions. Improving the energy efficiency of those homes is a no brainer.

Here, as part of our House Proud campaign which presents policy makers with the case for housing, we explain why.

Building greener homes will not help much. The current government wants all new homes to be ‘zero carbon’ by 2016, a task made no easier by ministers’ refusal to explain what they think zero carbon means. Achieving that ambition would only reduce carbon emissions by 5 per cent by 2050. Clearly it is making the millions of existing homes greener that will count.

That may not be easy and it will certainly be expensive. Homes and Communities Agency boss Sir Bob Kerslake reckons it will cost £500 billion to reduce the carbon footprint of existing homes by 60 per cent.

But the payoff makes it worth it. John Doggart, chair of the Sustainable Energy Academy, estimates the government’s 80 per cent carbon cut will be in the bag if the UK refurbishes 500,000 homes a year for the next 40 years. And, as Mr Simpson suggests, as owners of around 18 per cent of those homes social landlords could do most of the grunt work.

Of course the hypothetical ‘get out of jail card’ comes with a quid pro quo - government cash. Social landlords have earned it. Putting aside the massive practical contribution they could make to meeting the nation’s environmental commitments, landlords’ current environmental initiatives prove it would be foolhardy not to invest in helping them do so. Housing’s present contribution to greening the planet includes pioneering eco-schemes, massive investment in new technologies, educating the population, creating jobs and tackling fuel poverty. Still not convinced? Then read on for the detail.

Social landlords already own England’s greenest homes. The latest English House Condition Survey reveals social homes trounce their private counterparts in the environmental stakes. More than a fifth of social homes rank in the top three energy efficiency bands, compared with just 5 per cent of private dwellings.

It’s the other way round at the opposite end of the spectrum. One fifth of private homes languish on the bottom two rungs of the efficiency ladder, compared with 7.5 per cent of social homes. As the authors of that report put it: ‘Social sector homes tend to be much more energy efficient than those in the private sector.’

Once again, it is the social sector’s innovative nature - in evidence throughout the House Proud campaign - that has seen it get ahead of the curve. Housing associations in particular have been developing sustainable expertise since well before it was fashionable. For example, Black Country Housing Association tenants moved into their landlord’s first super-insulated homes back in November 2000, says Richard Baines, the landlord’s director of sustainable development. That’s getting on for being eight years ahead of the curve - super-insulation becomes part of the national building regulations in April this year. Today Mr Baines is looking ahead to the post-carbon economy.

‘We’ve been working for the last eight years on proving we can use hydrogen fuel cells in a housing context,’ he explains.

Innovation

Social landlords are also leading the new build charge. ‘Some of the first commercially available code for sustainable homes level six properties have been built by a housing association [Metropolitan Housing Partnership] - at Upton in Northampton - and this is exactly the type of innovation we want to see more of,’ says HCA chief Sir Bob Kerslake. ‘In many ways, the social housing sector is leading the way and this should help continue to raise standards, reduce carbon emissions and develop the techniques and skills required for a low carbon economy,’ he adds.

A quick glance at the collective contributions of the winners of the recent Sustainable Housing Awards backs Sir Bob up. As Black Country’s Mr Baines, named green social housing champion of the year at the awards, says: ‘We repeatedly demonstrate that what people say can’t be done can be done.’

And associations are making significant financial contributions to shrinking the nation’s carbon footprint. Black Country HA estimates it has invested an estimated £13 million since 1995; Gentoo has spent £6 million on energy efficiency since 2001, mostly from its own coffers; and award-winning South Shropshire Housing Association forked out £10.6 million on a 91-home biomass heated development that saves 120 tonnes of carbon annually.

The benefits of the sector’s good practice extend beyond environmental gains. Its sustainable efforts are helping the seven million households which, according to the National Housing Federation, are unable to afford to heat their homes adequately. The number of people living in fuel poverty is coming down thanks to schemes such as Anchor Trust’s ‘energy team’ initiative, which shaved more than £100,000 off residents’ gas and electricity bills.

Many schemes also tackle worklessness by developing skills and creating jobs. South Shropshire’s 91-home low carbon development in Ludlow includes plans to create its own wood-chipping business to provide fuel for the site’s district heating system.

Mr Simpson argues that the benefits of replicating such schemes en masse are too great to ignore. ‘There’s no sector that offers the same accessible benefits as the housing sector,’ he says. ‘This is the critical area in which we can deliver huge services and virtuous circles that are all to the public good and the environmental good.’

The Energy Saving Trust, which is helping 20 housing associations improve the efficiency of existing homes through its refurbishment pioneers project, is similarly keen to ensure the sector’s environmental potential is maximised.

‘We would encourage all social landlords to retrofit to as high standards as possible and certainly to go beyond decent homes standards, which means social landlords need to look at their whole stock strategically,’ advises Andy Deacon, the trust’s head of regional and local delivery.

Policy makers ignore this potential at their peril. Housing providers are up to the job. Now it’s up to the winners of the forthcoming election to find the resources to see it done.

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