From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
AUGUST 23, 2021
By Paul Homewood
More waste of taxpayers’ money:
This is the crucial section:
£170 a year for 38,000 homes tots up to a saving of £6.4 million. In what sane world would this justify spending £170 million?
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Even at today high cost of FF if anyone did the calculations of what they are paying for insulating a house to Today’s standards they would quickly realize that they are NOT saving money. it is only accepted because it is built into a new house [because of building codes] and part of the mortgage, making you pay four times as much for that insulation. About 10% of the cost of the home is Insulation and needed accessories for this insulation. Net Zero homes will double this amount. So even with a “Net Zero Energy” home you are Paying for that “unused” energy.’
Do the math. Prove me wrong. Don’t forget the two to four inches of insulation underground and under the basement floor. And the hermetically sealing,of the home requiring an energy recovery ventilator and its maintenance/operating expense, etc. And what kind of health problems is all of this going to cause?
Paul asks:
“£170 a year for 38,000 homes tots up to a saving of £6.4 million. In what sane world would this justify spending £170 million?”
Well firstly he is confusing a saving of 6.4 million per year with a total investment of 170 million. Houses are generally built to last 50 years or more. So the total expected savings would be more like 6.4 million * 40 years = 256 million which is significantly more than the original investment.
Secondly investing money to make sure that the poorest in society have warm homes and do not have to pay excessive heating bills is worthwhile whether or not it saves money overall. Part of the role of government is investing for the common good and using tax dollars to provide decent housing for social tenants is something that any just and democratic society should be doing.
Ok so lets look at the figures in that article-
“Wave 1 of The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund follows an earlier demonstrator phase launched in March 2021, which awarded £62 million to projects across England and Scotland which will look to upgrade c. 2,300 socially rented homes to demonstrate innovative approaches to retrofitting social housing at scale, using a whole house approach.”
So at 5% return that’s 1348 pounds a year for what savings?
“As a result, carbon emissions will be reduced, and it is expected that those living in upgraded properties will save between £300 and £500 on their energy bills each year.”
There’s lots of alternative uses for the resources purloined from the productive sector.
The UK government is currently planning on spending 250 million pounds on a new royal yacht. If there is money to buy a new boat for an aging monarch surely her subjects deserve warm houses?
BBC headline ‘ Govt saves 38,000 homes 6.4 million ‘ .
No mention it will cost 170 million .