Isaac Occhipinti, Chair of the Hot Water Association said:

“The UK needs more housing but there is no justification for building homes with a permanent legacy of high energy bills. New buildings need to be ‘future proofed’ to break the vicious cycle of expensive retrofitting programmes – one way of achieving this is by making new build properties that are hot water ready.”

He added:

“Hot water storage also offers the only inexpensive practical solution for turning the energy produced by renewable technologies into something useful and banking it for when it needs to be used.”

“With fast approaching carbon budgets, and increasing pressure being placed on the Government to improve the nation’s air quality, decarbonisation of heat and making the UK’s housing stock more energy efficient is high on the political agenda. Whilst retrofitting the existing housing stock will prove complex (80% of the current housing stock will still be in place in 2050), ensuring new build properties are efficient, low carbon and future proof serves as a good way to start reducing domestic emissions.“

The call for evidence on a Future Framework for Heat in Buildings, which closes on the 11^th June, can be found here.