Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the 2050 Net Zero target, whether they have assessed the amount of (1) energy required for, and (2) the global warming potential of, the manufacture of insulation materials.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not undertaken as assessment of the amount of energy required for the manufacture of insulation products, or the impact this may have on global warming. The Government remains committed to ensuring that all insulation products sold on the UK market are safe and perform to the required standard.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quantity of insulation material needed to insulate the entirety of the UK’s building stock in time to meet the 2050 Net Zero target.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The English Housing Survey provides estimates[1] of the extent of different insulation measures in the English housing stock. These estimates suggest that 6.3m solid walls remain uninsulated, 5.4m cavity walls remain uninsulated, and 3.2m lofts have less than 100mm of insulation (this figure excludes homes that do not have a loft – for example, homes with a loft conversion). Only 1.9m homes currently have floor insulation.
It should be noted, particularly for higher cost measures like solid wall insulation, that not all these untreated properties need to be improved, as some of these improvements would not be considered cost effective, practical or affordable on an individual property basis. Energy efficiency is a matter for the devolved administrations, who will have equivalent estimates for their countries.
[1]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/898342/Energy_Chapter_2_Figures_and_Annex_Tables.xlsx, tabs: AT2.10, AT 2.11, and AT2.12
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether breathable nature-based insulation is more appropriate for insulating older homes in the existing housing stock than synthetic products.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made an assessment of the circumstances in which nature-based insulation products would deliver better outcomes in older homes. The Government remains committed to ensuring that all insulation products sold on the UK market are safe and perform to the required standard.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the 2050 Net Zero target, whether they have assessed the levels of embodied carbon contained in (1) synthetic, and (2) nature-based, insulation materials.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not undertaken such an assessment. The Government continues to take forward work to mitigate carbon emissions through measuring and reducing the embodied and operational carbon of the buildings and infrastructure it funds, and within the construction supply chain.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of using breathable nature-based insulation on the comfort, health and well-being of occupants.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential for nature-based insulation products to contribute to the decarbonisation of the built environment, the 2050 Net Zero Carbon target, or the impact on the residents of homes in which these products are use. The Government has also made no assessment of the benefits of showing consumers the potential relationship between individual products and energy savings.
To improve energy and heat efficiency in buildings usually requires a number of interventions, including improving insulation. Therefore, the focus of Government programmes that deliver this, such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, is on developing approaches to whole house retrofit, rather than on identifying the contribution individual products can make.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of showing potential consumers the relationship between energy savings and operational carbon versus stored biogenic carbon of insulation materials.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential for nature-based insulation products to contribute to the decarbonisation of the built environment, the 2050 Net Zero Carbon target, or the impact on the residents of homes in which these products are use. The Government has also made no assessment of the benefits of showing consumers the potential relationship between individual products and energy savings.
To improve energy and heat efficiency in buildings usually requires a number of interventions, including improving insulation. Therefore, the focus of Government programmes that deliver this, such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, is on developing approaches to whole house retrofit, rather than on identifying the contribution individual products can make.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of proposals for a mechanism to inform consumers (1) how much embodied carbon an insulation product contains, and (2) whether, and if so how much, it stores biogenic carbon, through Environmental Product Declarations at the specifier level.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential for nature-based insulation products to contribute to the decarbonisation of the built environment, the 2050 Net Zero Carbon target, or the impact on the residents of homes in which these products are use. The Government has also made no assessment of the benefits of showing consumers the potential relationship between individual products and energy savings.
To improve energy and heat efficiency in buildings usually requires a number of interventions, including improving insulation. Therefore, the focus of Government programmes that deliver this, such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, is on developing approaches to whole house retrofit, rather than on identifying the contribution individual products can make.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the potential for carbon storing nature-based insulation products to decarbonise the built environment, and (2) the impact such products could have on reaching the 2050 Net Zero target.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential for nature-based insulation products to contribute to the decarbonisation of the built environment, the 2050 Net Zero Carbon target, or the impact on the residents of homes in which these products are use. The Government has also made no assessment of the benefits of showing consumers the potential relationship between individual products and energy savings.
To improve energy and heat efficiency in buildings usually requires a number of interventions, including improving insulation. Therefore, the focus of Government programmes that deliver this, such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, is on developing approaches to whole house retrofit, rather than on identifying the contribution individual products can make.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the extent to which insulation can be a source of indoor air pollutants, (2) the impact of any such pollutants on occupant health, and (3) the impact of using nature-based insulation as a low pollutant source material.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not undertaken an assessment of the extent to which any type of insulation can be a source of pollutants, or the impact of these on the health of occupants of buildings.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) quantity, and (2) mix, of insulation that will be needed for typical homes to enable the UK to hit its 2050 Net Zero target in respect of the built environment.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not made a public assessment of the quantity and mix of insulation required to reach Net Zero. There are multiple pathways to achieving Net Zero, all with varying degrees of insulation installed. In pathways where less insulation is installed, more heat demand must be met by low carbon heat. The optimal mix will depend on a number of factors, such as the cost of low carbon heating technologies, and the ability for the electricity grid to meet peak heat demand.