Housebuilders and campaigners warn of cold, damp homes and UK missing legally binding targets
  • mannycalavera@feddit.ukEnglish
    14·
    10 months ago

    We’ve been fortunate enough to have have recently installed insulation in a house that has historically had zero and it is night and day the difference. Yes it was expensive, but it wasn’t spectacularly expensive. I can totally understand how not everyone can afford to do this but I don’t understand why successive governments or prospective new ones don’t group buy the materials and labour needed to go (literally) door to door and retrofit every house in the country. In the grand scheme of what governments have to pay for what’s stopping them doing this? I simply don’t get it. They spend way more on other shite. Stimulate jobs, supply lines, better insulation, greener houses, less reliance on gas heating. WTF are they thinking?

    Imagine this: Starmer, at election time, in front of a big red bus, sign behind him reads: We can give home insulation £3million a week by ditching the Rwanda plans, Vote Labour.

    Sure fire win 😉.

      • mannycalavera@feddit.ukEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        Mid terraced house two up two down around 3 and half grand to go from zero (almost) to full current specs. Mind you that also included some other roof repair work that we had done at the same time. So definitely get quotes and multiple quotes. Some of our quotes took the absolute piss.

        Let’s say that this figure is five grand per house without any sort of bulk buy government scheme. They would have to spend 19 million homes x £5k = £95 billion over however many years they do this. Probably a lot less as I’ve over estimated my back on am envelope calculation.

        Fair enough that’s actually a lot of money 😂. But spread that out over the course of a government and it’s £20 billion a year. This doesn’t even account for the economic activity it would generate so you’d get a lot of this back in taxes paid by the industry doing the fitting.

        I can just see Starmer now, at the dispatch box. The key priority for our country… Insulation, Insulation, Insulation.

        • Specal@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          10 months ago

          It can be done for alot cheaper by removing labour costs by having civil servants do the installation and by mass purchasing material cost.

          Also every house wouldn’t need insulating as I’d say the majority already are.

          And to the people who would be like “I had to pay for mine why didn’t they have to pay for theres grrrr I say no” get a life, this is about building a better Britain.

          • mannycalavera@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            It can be done for alot cheaper by removing labour costs by having civil servants do the installation

            Do you want the civil servants from the HomeOffice fitting insulation in your house? They’d probably find an excuse to set your home on fire and blame an immigrant.

            🤣🤣

            Of course, I know what you mean ☺️.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Brian Berry, chief executive of the body representing the building trade, said: “It is disappointing that the Labour party has decided to roll back its ambition to retrofit 19m homes to just 5m.

    Energy experts also said Labour’s decision to slash its home insulation programme could mean that, in government, it would be at risk of failing to meet the legally binding targets on carbon reduction and ending fuel poverty by 2030.

    There are also major gaps in Labour’s “green prosperity plan” that may stymie the UK’s chances of meeting milestone targets on the way to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, experts and campaigners warned.

    The UK urgently needs a bold green industrial strategy that will create millions of jobs, increase energy independence, grow our flailing economy and help the cost of living and climate crises all at the same time.”

    Bob Ward, head of policy at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, said: “At first glance the green prosperity plan will boost action to cut emissions, particularly compared to the current government’s half-hearted approach.

    “It is also very worrying that the green prosperity plan ignores other extremely important investment needs, such as adapting to climate change impacts, reversing biodiversity loss and stopping environmental degradation, including air and water pollution.”

    The original article contains 989 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!