The majority (71%) of home renovators in the UK plan to make ‘green’ renovations to homes, in attempts to reduce energy bills amidst price hikes, while tackling their carbon footprints at the same time – according to new research from Mitsubishi Electric.
In a survey of more than 2,000 UK adults in June 2022, it was found that the primary motivation for undertaking home renovations is to reduce energy bills, with 58% of respondents ranking it as their top priority.
Of respondents planning to make renovations, a promising 71% also plan to take an environmental and sustainable approach. The top six types of home improvements that respondents plan to carry out all significantly indicate a strong obligation towards the environment:
- Improvements to reduce my heating bills
- Upgrade the windows
- Improve heating systems
- Upgrade insulation
- Environmentally conscious improvements
- Improvements to reduce the home carbon footprint
Over half (56%) of respondents are also willing to spend up to £5,000 to ensure that home improvement work is done with an environmental and sustainable approach.
Factoring in the Government’s latest decarbonisation incentive – the Boiler Upgrade Scheme – means that these households could gain an additional £5,000 towards the cost of installing a renewable heating system such as an air source heat pump.
“The research shows a clear appetite amongst homeowners to improve their homes and reduce their impact on the environment. With an air source heat pump, residents can expect a high-quality living standard, with the peace of mind that they are contributing on the road to net zero,” explained Russell Dean, Residential Product Group Director at Mitsubishi Electric.
The Government has called for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed a year by 2028 if we are to hit our ambitious goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This will require a significant boost in installation numbers each year. That is why manufacturers are continually making sizeable business investments and training more heat pump installers.
The need for more support
Despite the keen appetite for making ‘green’ home improvements, Mitsubishi Electric’s research finds that only 6% of the UK public believe that the quality of information available to support ‘green’ home improvements is ‘very good’.
In order to support more educated and informed decisions around sustainable and environmentally friendly home renovations, more readily accessible and higher quality guidance is required to increase awareness.
Russell Dean adds: “It’s encouraging to see that the majority of people are thinking about sustainability when upgrading their homes. What we need to do now as an industry is give homeowners everything they need to make informed decisions about the best green improvement for their home.”
