SuperFOIL has issued a warning stating that, in the wake of the latest government guidance, the role that insulation can play is being ignored in favour of heat pumps
The government’s Future Homes Standard puts heat pumps at the centre, requiring them (or other low-carbon heating systems) in all new-build homes from 2028 onwards, alongside more solar panel usage.
SuperFoil are now saying that without adequate use of insulation, the full benefit of this guidance will not be met.
A “fabric-first” approach?
SuperFOIL agree that heat pumps are efficient and a step in the right direction, as they deliver heat efficiently at a rate of roughly three units of heat to one unit of electricity. But how effective this is will also be heavily influenced by the quality of insulation in the home. Where insulation is poor, heat pumps will need to work harder and for longer to keep the house warm, driving up costs and shortening heat pump lifespan.
Better insulation in a home will also lead to requiring a smaller, lower-capacity heat pump to reduce costs further.
Furthermore, insulation has other benefits such as being a low-maintenance upgrade that significantly increases a property’s value, and the overall benefit is taking leaps towards a net-zero country.
William Bown, CEO of SuperFOIL, commented: “The successful rollout of heat pumps is fundamentally linked to the thermal integrity of the homes they are fitted to. High-performing insulation should go hand in hand with these schemes, to ensure that every homeowner moving into these new homes from 2028 onwards receives the best value for their money and can enjoy a properly heated home.
“By focusing on this now, we can ensure that the technologies of 2028 are not just functional, but a seamless addition to the British property market. The focus must be on delivering a robust, fabric-first foundation that optimises system performance and works towards a more sustainable future for the UK and homeowners.”
The government’s insulation attempt went somewhat poorly
In April, four people were arrested following raids on three firms under investigation of suspected fraud in the ECO4 scheme, a government-funded scheme to provide energy efficiency upgrades to many homes across the country.
Earlier in the year, a Parliamentary report called for a serious fraud investigation as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found “serious failings at every level.” Thousands of homes had poor-quality insulation installed, and several firms were suspended as a result of poor practice.
Between 9,000 and 13,000 homes had internal insulation installed that required major repairs, many of which even posed serious health concerns to residents.
The chair of the PAC called it the “most catastrophic fiasco that I have seen,” and said: “[…] our report finds the project was doomed to failure from the start. Government behaved inexplicably in redesigning a similar scheme which was working reasonably well into a highly-complex number of organisations with siloed responsibilities, which did not respond to failures anything like quickly enough to prevent damage being done to people’s homes.”
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