Why is Britain the cold man of Europe?

THE drastic rises in fuel prices, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, represent a crisis for millions of us.

At the same time, they’ve triggered calls to abandon Britain’s net zero carbon target and undertake widespread fracking and oil exploration in the North Sea.

However, this would do little or nothing to solve the problem. Firstly oil and gas are sold in dollars on the open market and so increasing UK production would have minimal impact on the price we have to pay.

Secondly, it would take years or decades to bear fruit and so have zero impact on the current crisis.

By contrast, increasing renewable energy sources can come on stream in a vastly shorter time frame and now produce far cheaper electricity than fossil fuels or nuclear power plants (https://bit.ly/3okBk7u).

However, by far the best and quickest way of reducing fuel bills is to make houses more energy efficient, cutting costs by up to 25%.

Shockingly Britain is the cold man of Europe, with homes that are harder to heat than anywhere else in Western Europe. Effective energy efficiency schemes brought improvements, but in 2012 regulations were relaxed and government support drastically cut.

Ten years later, millions of English homes have either no, or totally inadequate, loft insulation.

The recent Green Homes Grant Scheme was supposed to cover 600,000 homes but according to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee was a “slam dunk fail” which delivered only 10% of its target. Similarly, the Energy Contractors Obligation scheme for low income families has delivered pitifully poor results.

The government needs to wake up and act urgently to address this glaring failure of public policy. Getting our housing stock more energy efficient would not only help with the energy crisis but also significantly reduce carbon emissions. What’s not to like?

Terry Riordan Ottery St Mary, Devon