Energy efficiency retrofitting services supply chains: A review of evolving demands from housing policy

Abstract

Attention regarding the energy saving potential of existing houses has been occurring within the UK for a number of decades, producing an evolving landscape of policy mechanisms. Experience shows that innovative schemes are required, implemented at a large scale, to reach carbon reduction targets. In an unprecedented move within the UK, private industry was enlisted with the task of delivering the most recent domestic energy efficiency policy; the Green Deal (GD). This policy required the energy efficiency retrofit services (EERS) sector to increase capacity and deliver efficiency improvements to the UK's existing housing stock, at scale. This review evaluates this Green Deal policy landscape in relation to the requirement of EERS sector expansion. Previous UK retrofit policies act as comparative exemplars, to assess how policy is progressing in promoting private enterprises. Key findings suggest EERS expansion is most successful if policies are designed more holistically; UK policies show strategies which focus on simply the property and not the occupants have their disadvantages. Therefore, a move away from marginal financial incentives, such as the Green Deal's loan structure, to a wider consideration of how policy tools interact with supply chains and end users, would enable increased impact.