Motion #07
To view the background paper for this motion, click here.
A third of us face fuel-poverty. Our homes overheat in summer and get cold in winter; and they puff out 1/5th of our carbon emissions. Government should take a Moonshot approach to building a new economy, working on the complex, costly task of retrofitting homes with insulation, ventilation and renewables.
SOC notes: This will be added into the Record of Policy Statements
That the Green Party advocate a moonshot at retrofit to provide fuel security, make home-heating affordable, protect our people from ill-health and death, and tackle climate change.
Government and councils should take a systems-approach to mass-retrofit; creating a national structure with delivery through local councils; with grants and zero-interest loans to householders.
We need mass-mobilisation of surveyors, energy-advisors and retrofit co-ordinators. Skilled tradespeople and construction workers should be retrained for this specialised work. The resources of volume house-builders should be re-directed to retrofit. Educational establishments should be reskilling personnel and training up a new generation of retrofitters.
Insulation, heat-pumps, solar panels and other materials should be prioritised for this strategic push. Limited resources mean focus should switch from building new homes to making our existing homes fit for the future.
We call on Government for moonshot pump-priming of this new industry and constant, reliable, long-term funding. Government is to provide £30bn towards fuel bills this year. That annual quantum could create the structural mechanism and enable the deep retrofit ultimately of at least a million homes a year.
The time for retrofit is now. An economic boom would come from targetted investment in our homes, with a market of millions of householders. A moonshot approach would see the UK leading from the front with a world-class, exportable, innovatory strategy for mass-retrofit.
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“An economic boom would come from targeted investment in our homes, with a market of millions of householders. A moonshot approach would see the UK leading from the front with a world-class, exportable, innovatory strategy for mass-retrofit.”