We need to start a

We need to realise what we can do today, rather than ladening the next generation with the consequences, says Matt Clubb

Last year the Scottish Climate Assembly showed that when members of the public, selected at random, are given time to absorb independent data from scientists, their overall conclusions present a picture of a world that needs to change, rapidly.

Recognition of the depth of the climate crisis is growing and some universities are hosting their own climate assemblies with Robert Gordon University’sscottsutherlandschoolstarting to host regular climate forums to getstudentsandteachersmoredeeply engaged in the topic.

There is also growing recognition in the private sector that industries need to accelerate their decarbonisation plans and in some cases that presents huge opportunities. This is also true in the construction industry, which has largelyfailedtodecarboniseitselfinthe last 30 years. So how do we decarbonise our buildings?

The Scottish Building Standards fall woefully short of a zero-carbon standard. While the government acknowledges better standards are necessary, thelinestillappearstobethatofgradualimprovementovermanyyears,rather than an immediate change which is reallywhatisrequired.somelow-energy standards, such as Passivhaus, are gaining popularity in Scotland. These buildings consume 90 per cent less energy, and crucially, they are cheaper to build when the full lifecycle of the building is taken into account.

However, when you consider that over 60 per cent of the carbon emissions of a building come from its construction,notitseverydayuse,andthat these emissions are currently completely unregulated, you really start to see the problem.

We can’t simply build our way out of the problem, 80 per cent of the buildingsthatwillexistin2045havealready beenbuilt,sowemuststarttoupgrade our existing building stock, a process known as retrofit. Across the UK there are 24 million homes that will need retrofitting by 2050. The Construction Leadership Council estimates that the UK will require an additional 400,000 people working in the retrofit sector, witheveryonefromplumberstoarchitects to insulation specialists.

The industry has also developed a new standard called Whole House Retrofit. This new method is crucial to bringing independent trusted advice toconsumers.thenewstandardhasa wholehouseapproachatitsheart,with lessonslearntfromindustry,anddeliversaretrofitplanthatthehouseholder can adopt in stages, as and when they can afford to.

Doing retrofit properly does come at significant cost, with payback periodsinexcessof20years.whatisreally neededisgovernmentsupport.industryanalysisshowsthataccesstocheap government finance is enough to get peopleonboard.andnotonlythat,but it’s a very cheap way of generating economic growth and creating jobs.

While so many things are hard to decarbonise(aviation,heavyindustry, agriculture),homeheatingcanbedone now, with technologies that already exist. We cannot wait for a hydrogen boiler uprising and replacing our boilers with heat pumps risks pushing evenmorepeopleintofuelpoverty.we can insulate our homes now to reduce energy consumption and then look at renewable sources of heating.

Therelevancetonorth-eastscotland could not be any larger. 25 per cent of homesareinfuelpoverty,45percentof homes in Aberdeen have no wall insulation, many suffer damp problems and have very poor indoor air quality. Combine this with the declining fossilfuels industry and the overwhelming need to reduce energy consumption andyouhaveaperfectstormofreasons to start a retrofit revolution!

The world’s attention is focused on Glasgow this November for the UN COP26. Leaders in the retrofit world are heading there too and planning to