Mitsubishi Electric

Social housing can help reduce society’s carbon footprint with renewables

The United Kingdom has set a legal goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To achieve this, the government wants to increase household energy efficiency and transition to greener heating methods by the end of the decade, halving the energy use of new builds.

Considering 40% of UK emissions come from households, it’s clear to see that our homes have an important part to play in meeting the 2030 emissions reductions.

In 2020, around 4 million houses were occupied by households socially renting.

This just goes to show how big a role housing associations and local authorities will play in tackling the climate crisis.

TV presenter and architect George Clarke is known for his forthright views on issues affecting housing and the built environment and he's has long been a champion of good design and sustainability.
He is also Ecodan Ambassador for heat pump manufacturer, Mitsubishi Electric and writes regularly on their blogsite about issues affecting the construction industry and housing in particular.

It’s perfectly understandable that many people are struggling to feel the Christmas spirit, as yet another year is added to the number of years of failure in housing policy. 2020 will definitely be one for the history books. Of course, the Covid pandemic naturally stole our focus, but in truth, there still exist a myriad of issues afflicting the housing sector that were around before the virus and will continue to make people’s lives difficult going forward if we do not come together as an industry to solve them. Housing Association Magazine’s Joe Bradbury takes a look at what the social housing sector needs in 2021.

It’s not too late to give your headquarters a last minute Christmas present and it needn’t cost you a penny.
Take advantage of the £1 billion decarbonisation fund to upgrade your heating, ventilation or air conditioning systems whilst reducing your environmental impact.
If you are working with any public sector or Local Authority housing association, then this decarbonisation scheme is a huge step forward towards the nation’s goal of net zero by 2050.
• Applications for the grant close on the 11th January 2021
• Projects do not have to be completed until September 2021

To help people understand the full benefits of air source heat pumps, Mitsubishi Electric have created a series of podcasts all about renewable heating with Ecodan Ambassador, architect and TV Presenter, George Clarke and in one of the latest, they look specifically at the social housing sector.

Upon releasing the whitepaper, the government boldly claimed “we will make it easier to build better homes where people want to live.” (Let’s hold them to it!)
“New regulations will give greater freedom for buildings and land in our town centres to change use without planning permission and create new homes from the regeneration of vacant and redundant buildings.”