Climate Change and Air Quality Progress Report 2022 to 2023

£4.97m was secured through the Sustainable Warmth scheme to provide energy efficiency and clean heating upgrades in both eligible on and off-gas grid homes.

Funding was awarded following submission of a consortium bid with the Greater South East Net Zero Hub and the scheme was delivered by City Energy (as the Managing Agent).

The government grant funding supported the installation of 261 retrofit measures in 203 properties in Buckinghamshire. The installation of the energy efficiency measures is anticipated to result in a reduction of over 250 tonnes of CO2/year.

The Home Upgrade Grant 2 will follow the Sustainable Warmth scheme. The Council has secured £576k which will support energy performance improvements in off-gas grid homes up until March 2025. The scheme will be largely managed by the Greater South East Net Zero Hub.

An ‘Energy Doctor’ scheme (Domestic Resource Efficiency Service) was approved by Cabinet on 5 January 2023. Just under £2 million has been allocated to support the initiative until the end of March 2025 from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Energy Doctors (Domestic Resource Efficiency Officers) have been visiting eligible homes (since 5 April 2023) to:

• identify whether households are paying too much for their energy and/or water (benchmarked against average prices and taking into account legislation relating to energy and water supplies)
• provide advice on support available (including funding and grants) to assist with the implementation of resource efficiency measures
• suggest appropriate behavioural and control changes that can help reduce resource consumption
• implement suitable low cost easy retrofit resource efficiency (LCERRE) measures such as draught proofing (for windows, doors, letterboxes, and chimneys), hot water cylinder insulation jackets, reflective radiator panels, secondary glazing film, portable solar generators, electricity consumption monitors, thermometer cards, and LED lights

Over 400 visits will be made by the Energy Doctors and it’s estimated that the scheme will reduce carbon emissions in the area by 300 tonnes per year. It’s estimated that the visits made so far are helping people save over £100 on their energy bills per year on average.

New energy and water saving measures will be provided by the Service in 2023 that will provide even better cost and carbon savings for residents.

A Buckinghamshire Solar Together scheme was launched in May 2022, with the aim of helping residents and small business owner-occupiers interested in installing solar PV and battery storage. Solar Together is a group buying initiative run by iChoosr, which may result in savings of up to 30% less than those typically provided by the market.

During the 2022/23 Solar Together scheme a total of 584 installations have been confirmed including a total of 5,356 solar PV panels. This is equivalent to an additional peak generating capacity of 2.1MW being installed in Buckinghamshire, increasing household’s energy security and reducing emissions and bills at the same time. Over a period of 25 years, it is projected that this will result in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions of as much as 9,600 tonnes CO2eq.

Additionally, a further 463 batteries have been installed to allow the storage of the electricity generated for later consumption, alongside 44 EV chargepoints. Anybody installing solar panels across Buckinghamshire can benefit from the Government’s Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which sets a minimum price for electricity exported back to the grid.