Nov 20, 2022
Fabric First isn’t about energy efficiency.
Just Stop Oil aren’t actually campaigning for people to stop using oil.
Yes, that is their end goal; but Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to ensure that the government commits to ending all new licenses and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.
‘Just-Stop-All-New-Licenses-And-Consents-For-The-Exploration-Development-And-Production-Of-Fossil-Fuels-In-The-UK’ isn’t as much of a catchy name though — not to mention the size of the banner they would need to fit that all on.
Fabric First doesn’t actually mean before doing anything else, we should always upgrade the fabric of our buildings.
Fabric First involves maximising the performance of the components and materials that make up the building fabric itself, before considering the use of mechanical or electrical building services systems.
“Before considering”
Whether new build or retrofit, we should do what we can to minimise the energy usage of our buildings as much as possible.
Demand Vs Efficiency
Improving the fabric of a building; be it insulating the walls and roof, windows of floors — helps reduce energy demand.
In improving fabric, we keep the heat in.
Irrespective of if you have a boiler or a heat pump (or any other form of heating system) — if your property isn’t very well insulated, then the heat you are paying for is just leaking out of your home.
You’re throwing money out the window.
What improving the fabric of your building won’t do however, is improve the efficiency of your heating system.
The heat will stay in your home for longer, and so your heating system won’t need to work as hard.
The output of your heating system will be lower (as your demand for it will be lower) — and so your energy bills will be lower.
The efficiency — how much (heat)kW can we produce per (energy)kW we put in — will remain unchanged.
Improve thermal performance of building (fabric first), reduces heat loss, reduces heat demand, reduces running costs.
If you improve the thermal performance of your building AND you fuel switch — i.e. change from a (gas) boiler to an (electric) heat pump- then you have the potential to save even more money based on the efficiency improvements of these competing technologies
Average boiler efficiency (manufacturers claim) 90%
Average air-source heat pump efficiency 300%
Energy prices are rising.
Reduce demand.
Fabric improvements, but also behavioral change — switch things off, use timers etc.
Fuel Switch
Move away from gas.
Focus on energy efficiency.
Chose a new heating system based upon its efficiency.
The more efficient a product/ technology/ system is — the less energy we use.
