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Both the Royal Academy and the All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Committee have recently called on the government to make a huge investment in improving energy efficiency in the home as part of the fight against global warming. They are right to point to the chronic energy inefficiency of the country’s existing homes; these account for nearly 40 per cent of carbon gas emissions. It is probably not realistic, however, to expect huge sums of public money to be devoted to tackling this problem when our national debt is higher in real terms than at any time since the 1680s. Whatever government is in power, overall cuts rather than investment will inevitably be the order of the day for perhaps the next decade, and neither the scientists nor the parliamentarians indicate on what spending programme they would like to see the axe fall in order to pay for the investment they seek.
If vast sums of public money are not to be thrown at this problem, the most promising way to deal with it in practical terms is surely by promoting behaviour change among householders.
The government claims the general introduction of “smart” gas and electricity meters will do that, by inducing consumers to save money and reduce their carbon emissions. This is not true. Smart meters provide greater accuracy and frequency of billing but on their own do not provide any more information to consumers, or incentive to change their behaviour, than the present generation of meters does.
Reducing energy usage and cutting carbon emissions requires effective consumer engagement. Research shows that real-time energy monitoring displays in the home are the most effective tool for bringing about a reduction in energy use. They can cause a fall of some 14 per cent if used fully. There are also other mechanisms, some of which are even more cost effective; these include websites and printed reports, and messages sent to mobile telephones. All these mechanisms may not yet be accessible by all, but as they are complementary it is likely that a combination of them will indeed bear fruit.
Rather than demanding spending that is just not going to materialise in the short to medium term, commentators should accept reality and concentrate on promoting more practical ways of meeting the aim of cutting energy use in the home.
