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Why brave decisions in housing are needed to tackle the climate crisis
As concerns over the climate crisis intensify, housing associations must step up with some bold actions, argues Richard Jennings
In an article for the Financial Times this month, Simon Kuper observed that “once some engineering-savvy climate leaders emerge, we can finally start taking climate change seriously”.
His view is that in order to tackle climate change, the world needs a new political class, one that is obsessed with climate and has the skills to assess the engineering-led interventions we will need to counter the effects of global warming.
As housing providers, we should not underestimate the part we can play in encouraging engineering-led innovation with the potential to cut carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty along the way.
The sector has a major role to play in fostering widespread adoption of new ideas. I recently had the privilege of presenting some of our activity here in Scotland in the engineering sphere to sector colleagues attending TECH@Housing 2019 in Manchester.
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More than three years ago, Castle Rock Edinvar took part in the biggest residential energy storage trial of its kind in Europe, which involved replacing hot water tanks in 650 homes in Scotland with Sunamp heat batteries.
We were exploring ways to reduce energy consumption, fuel poverty and carbon emissions to exceed the latest Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing, and had identified issues in some of our properties.
At the time, local thermal storage company Sunamp’s technology was still in the lab. They didn’t have a finished product and it wasn’t clear exactly what benefits their heat batteries – which are based on non-toxic, recyclable phase change material – might bring.
“As housing providers, we should not underestimate the part we can play in encouraging engineering-led innovation with the potential to cut carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty along the way”
Then, the Scottish government issued a call for applications to the Local Energy Challenge Fund (LECF) and we grabbed the opportunity.
Together with Sunamp and East Lothian Housing Association we were successful in our bid for £3.2m to introduce a large-scale trial across a range of property types and heating systems.
One of our aims was to capture energy generated by our solar PV and store it to provide heating and hot water as required, reducing the amount of energy being sent back to the grid, and the amount of gas required to burn, for example, combi-boilers.
By replacing traditional water cylinders as a method of thermal storage for space heating and hot water with Sunamp’s compact, high energy density heat batteries, we have succeeded in reducing carbon emissions and improved comfort for our tenants.
Since the trial began, energy costs have risen, so although residents’ bills may not have reduced, neither have they increased in line with the price hikes.
We have taken action to limit climate change by seeking out new ways of doing things, sharing some risk, and by being an early adopter of an engineering breakthrough.
It was a bold decision to install nascent technology at scale, and we couldn’t have achieved it without the LECF funding award.
But by grasping the nettle we have played a significant part in the continual development and roll-out of a product that is contributing to a lower carbon future by providing a more efficient and effective means of using energy.
Richard Jennings, managing director, Castle Rock Edinvar
