How to retrofit UK homes to cut emissions whilst avoiding fuel poverty

A new study from Loughborough University, published in Energy and Buildings, looks at the importance of considering fuel poverty when retrofitting UK homes to cut carbon emissions.

Fuel poverty, when a household cannot afford to heat their home to an adequate temperature, affected more than one in ten households in 2024 (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero), a figure that varies significantly across regions.  UK homes produce 30 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from heating.

Many homes across the UK are old and inefficient in terms of energy use, making retrofitting crucial to reduce carbon emissions and energy bills.  Researchers from the university explored the impact on fuel poverty of the UK’s environmental goals to lower greenhouse gas emissions while making the best use of public incentives.  Retrofitting can be an expensive process for many homeowners, particularly those living in homes with a low EPC (Energy Performance Certificate), and it may increase short-term household finances to repay the investment, increasing their risk of becoming fuel-poor.

The study’s authors highlight that government policies and public funding are critical success factors and that retrofit planning must integrate fuel poverty prevention.

The research completed in Loughborough’s School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, was led by Dr Vincenzo Antonio Rossi, who examined 1.3 million homes in the East Midlands to test whether different retrofit options could minimise household emissions and costs without causing fuel poverty.

The study authors found that, when public incentives do not support retrofit, fuel poverty reduces the possibility of decarbonisation, and ignoring fuel poverty leads to an overestimation of carbon reduction.

The study also found that the safest retrofit measures included roof and cavity wall insulation and the replacement of single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows.

They also highlighted that solid wall insulation and the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps, which entail considerable installation and operation costs, may lead to fuel poverty if not adequately funded.

Dr Vincenzo Rossi explained:

“We wanted to test what would happen if everyone had to pay for their retrofit to reduce their heating carbon emissions. For some, this would mean overspending and, paradoxically, becoming fuel-poor. We argue that, as decarbonisation goals represent one of the most vital and complex challenges of our century, the costs of achieving them must be socially sustainable for the population and supported by public policies.”

Whilst the study authors accept that retrofitting homes is vital to meet current climate goals, without considering fuel poverty, current targets risk making life harder for low-income households and for the 11 per cent of families already living in fuel poverty in the UK.
They show how cheap and effective measures, such as roof and cavity wall insulation, should be widely promoted, whilst expensive measures such as heat pumps and high-performance glazing would need targeted subsidies and policies to avoid increasing cost.