It is difficult to overstate the importance of energy efficiency in homes as part of Scotland’s journey to net zero.
Domestic heating, along with domestic transport, are by some distance the country’s two largest emitters. If we don’t tackle them, we don’t do our bit to tackle climate change.
GreenFox Energy is an independent startup provider of energy efficiency services, with experience and expertise of installing various solutions including solar, battery and heat pumps - but the latter, much less so.
Unsurprisingly given the recent political and media furore, there is widespread confusion over the suitability and benefits of heat pumps. We must proceed with caution. Heat pumps are based on good technology and will undoubtedly be a feature of our future heating mix, but the reality is that they will currently only be a sensible economic choice for a fairly small proportion of homeowners.
That is because of the additional ‘success conditions’ which have to be met in the overall heating and plumbing system of the home. Put simply, the benefits of heat pumps are compromised - sometimes entirely - if the right pipework and radiators aren’t also in place. Consequently the ‘financial maths’ which apply to each household are more complex than for solar which - correctly designed - really is a guaranteed winner.
Return on investment for heat pumps tends to be strong only where the homeowner is already particularly poorly served by their existing energy generation system or lives in an ‘off-grid’ property.
Heat pumps: Myths, truths and costs:
- Meet the heat pump geeks who are retrofitting their homes and what we can learn
- Why Scots are fighting for their wood burning stoves
- Heat pumps clarity would help our obligations on route to net zero
It is for that reason - the intersection between cost and return and the maturity of technology - that our focus is on solar energy and battery storage. Solar energy can be a productive addition to 95% of homes which have their own roof, and at GreenFox we fit approximately eight times as many homes with solar energy as we do with heat pumps.
Today, we have launched our second annual Solar Energy Sentiment Survey, hoping to see an improvement from last year’s research, which uncovered a worrying lack of consumer confidence in the UK’s solar installers and widespread confusion about the benefits of domestic solar power.
In the next few weeks we will survey over 2000 adults to understand their awareness, attitudes and experiences in relation to home solar energy, repeating our study of May 2023. Results will be published on June 21st - the ‘longest day’ of the year.
Last year, the headline results suggested that - left unaddressed - the lack of ‘solar confidence’ felt by the UK public will mean the country continues to be a green laggard, with a rate of home energy efficiency adoption running well behind comparable nations.
Key survey findings included the startling fact that over 85% of people lack trust in solar energy installation firms and that more than 80% say they don’t fully understand how solar energy works, with 15% saying they understand nothing at all about the subject. One quarter of people surveyed significantly overestimated how much solar energy will cost to install in an average home and almost as many think homeowners can’t even make their money back - far less gain - from installing solar.
This combination of lack of trust and lack of knowledge means many people who would benefit significantly from solar energy and other energy efficient home upgrades lack the awareness of the opportunities and the confidence to commit to them. People are needlessly missing out on thousands of pounds of savings each year and - collectively - we’re massively under-delivering on our national obligations to address global climate change.
Scotland needs all parts of its domestic heating conversation to work better in order to maximise the benefits to people and planet. Our politicians need to engage more productively, understand the need for a ‘horses for courses’ approach, and stop picking winners based on ideology rather than practicality.
The house-building industry also has a role to play, as do planners and regulators. House builders should be compelled to improve the quality and useability of the solar energy systems they install in new homes, as the current general standard and capability of what is provided is relatively poor and, in truth, little more than a ‘box ticking’ exercise.
At GreenFox, we are impatient. We are frustrated. The vast majority of homes in Scotland are spending money they do not need to spend, and expending significant carbon they do not need to expend.
We can, and must, do better. There is an exciting future ahead. Heat pumps. District heating. Batteries. But now, today, we need to exploit the technology which provides the fastest and most reliable return. Solar is now.
Eddie Curran is Co-Founder and Director of GreenFox Energy
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