Insulating Ourselves From Climate Change

The Regulatory Assistance Project, an analyst organisation, calculates that energy efficiency measures (like low energy light bulbs and more efficient heating systems) have reduced the average UK household bills by circa £1000 per year (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/28/green-energy-measures-saving-households-money-analysis-shows). These savings, however, seem likely to the swallowed up by a scheduled substantial rise in the energy price cap (a system designed to limit the domestic prices of electricity and gas). The project clearly think that this might have been avoided had the government shown more urgency and had been more effective in providing further insulation and other home improvements. The UK government has a history of announcing schemes focused on the energy efficiency of homes and then quickly dropping them. The project estimate that insulation and home improvements could halve future energy bills. Had this happened earlier, it might well have driven down prices for electricity and gas. We may not have had a mass bankrupting of small energy companies and rocketing energy costs. In spite of the UK government's antipathy to the Insulate Britain demonstrations, they need to recognise that that organisation has a point.