An open letter has been written to senior Government figures calling for energy efficiency to be made an investment priority after new research found it constitutes infrastructure.
The letter, which is addressed to Chancellor George Osborne and Amber Rudd, secretary of state for energy and climate change, highlights new findings by Frontier Economics and is supported by 50 business and energy organisations.
The report claims there is a strong case for Government to make home energy efficiency an infrastructure investment priority and to develop an infrastructure programme to deliver it. It follows a new report from Frontier Economics which claims energy efficiency constitutes infrastructure as it frees up energy capacity for other uses and provides public services by reducing carbon emissions and improving health and wellbeing.
It also argues that an energy efficiency programme would meet the criteria applied by HM Treasury for determining their top 40 infrastructure requirements. It would also fit with the eight characteristics of infrastructure identified in HM Treasury’s valuation guidance.
The study goes on to show how energy efficiency investments provide value for money, with £8.7bn able to be generated by making British buildings more energy efficient.
Sarah Deasley, director at Frontier Economics, said: “The Government has identified productivity as one of the key economic challenges of our time. Our analysis shows an energy efficiency programme can boost UK productivity and has comparable economic benefits to other major infrastructure projects, providing excellent value for money. There is a strong case for energy efficiency to be made an infrastructure investment priority.”
Frontier Economics’ research builds on analysis from Cambridge Econometrics which shows that deploying infrastructure funds to support an energy efficiency programme could create up to 108,000 new jobs and boost Britain’s energy security.
The open letter to George Osborne and Amber Rudd has been written at a time when Government spending is being decided following the end of the Green Deal and proposed cuts to other green policy such as the Feed-in Tariff. However, it strikes a positive tone in support of the Government’s efforts to reorganise its spending habits.
The letter says: “We welcome this Government’s commitment to work with industry to come up with a new, value for money policy that works to keep our homes warm and bills down.
“With the Government poised to spend £100 billion on infrastructure during this Parliament there is a strong case for an energy efficiency programme to be included. It would be good for bill-payers, good for our economy, good for energy security, and good for our environment too.
“The energy efficiency industry stands ready to support you in delivering this. An investment in the infrastructure of our homes is an investment in the productivity and prosperity of the UK.”
The Insulated Render and Cladding Association (INCA), whose director was one of the signatories of the letter, claims if just £3 billion was allocated to such a programme, it could help to establish a world-leading energy efficiency programme that works to keep homes warm and bills down. The Association says it would also make a meaningful start on addressing the more than seven million households in Britain living in draughty and expensive-to-heat solid wall properties, including almost half of the country’s fuel poor, where solid wall insulation is the only solution.
Pádraig Barry, chairman of INCA, said: “The Spending Review in November offers a real opportunity for a change of approach from Government and the evidence is clear that investing in energy efficiency offers significant benefits not only to individual households but to the wider economy. As the leading trade association for external wall insulation, INCA supports the call for energy efficiency to be classified as an infrastructure priority which would help to lift families out of fuel poverty and transform local communities.”
