Households interested in installing green home measures such as extra insulation and heat pumps are being put off by the high cost of low-carbon technology, new research suggests.
Online searches for terms such as “how much are heat pumps” and “where to buy insulation” jumped in 2020, but the rising consumer interest did not translate into higher sales. In fact, sales of insulation and solar panels fell last year.
At least four million homes could have been insulated and two million tonnes of CO2 could have been cut in 2020 if customers hadn’t been put off by the high cost of green home products, energy supplier Bulb calculated.
The UK has some of the draughtiest housing stock in Europe, and more than 80 per cent of homes run on gas boilers. To reach net zero homes must use energy more efficiently as switch to greener heating systems, climate experts insist. But progress to date has been sluggish.
Co-founder Hayden Wood called on the government to scrap VAT on green products to make it cheaper for households to cut their home’s carbon impact.