Elmhurst has released its final response to one of Scottish Government’s most important consultations to date. Reducing carbon emissions in homes and businesses remains a top priority for all UK governments, and this can be strongly evidenced by Scotland’s Heat in Buildings Strategy consultation.

The strategy highlighted within this 185 page document updates both the previous Energy Efficient Scotland Route Map and the Heat Policy Statement, and establishes a clear direction as to how Scotland will achieve its ambition of Net Zero by 2045. Its primary aim is to decarbonise homes and workplaces which accounts for approximately 21% of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Scottish Government has made it clear that in order to achieve their ambition, action is required sooner rather than later, which is why they have proposed an interim 2030 target as part of their pathway to net zero by 2045. This interim target will will see 1 million homes and an estimated 50,000 non-domestic buildings using low and zero emission heating systems.

A Summary of Elmhurst’s Response:

On the road to achieving net zero emissions from buildings Elmhurst believe that we have to;

1. update the current models and tools so to get to as close to the truth as possible. The national calculation methodologies of SBEM and SAP must receive investment to ensure upmost accuracy and consistency of the information we are providing within the industry.
2. develop new tools which illustrate the opportunities for energy efficiency in a way that encourages good decisions.
3. reformat the EPC to ensure equal exposure is given to cost, energy and carbon impact. This would allow a more holistic and useful result to be provided by an EPC, and perhaps an alignment of the metric used at the core of EPCs could be reviewed.
4. Implement deep retrofit improvement using the principles of PAS 2035/2038

Elmhurst’s Technical and Operations Director, Stuart Fairlie, comments: “We welcome Scotland’s vision for a future of energy efficiency in all homes and commercial buildings. Scotland has always been very proactive in terms of efficiency and the pathway established in this consulation certainly sets out a cleaner, warmer and more energy efficient future for the country. Our overarching response to this consultation is to not reinvent the wheel but to utilise the knowledge and expertise of existing professionals, methodologies and frameworks”.

Deadline for submissions: 30^th April 2021

Elmhurst’s Final Response: www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk/uploads/Heat_in_Buildings_Strategy_Scotland.pdf

View/respond to consultation: https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-buildings-strategy-achieving-net-zero-emissions-scotlands-buildings-consultation/