People are taking it to the streets and blocking them with hoarding demanding the government to Insulate Britain. Read to know all about the campaign.
What is the ‘Insulate Britain’ campaign?
Insulate Britain is an environmental campaign group. They’re demanding the insulation of all social housing in the country by 2025 in order to reduce carbon emissions. On Wednesday, the group blocked the M25 and A40, two busy roads in London. As a result, 5 members of the group were arrested by the police. However, this is not the first time they blocked roads. They have been blocking roads since September 13, 2021. However, they gave a 10-day long break after writing a letter to Borris Johnson, asking him to “get on with the job of insulating homes”.
As per their website, Insulate Britain consists of regular citizens who are demanding the government to insulate the country. “The UK government must promise to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain. We demand a national home insulation strategy that gives British people the justice they deserve: a future for our loved ones, lower energy bills, and safer living conditions. The Climate Crisis is a threat to all: we demand the government to act now,” reads their official website.
What are their demands?
Insulate Britain’s main demand from the government is to completely fund and take up insulation of all housing in Britain by 2025. Additionally, they want the government to draw a legally binding plan in a span of four months. Hence, the government must fund and take responsibility and fund “a full low-energy and low-carbon whole-house retrofit, with no externalized costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030 as part of a just transition to full decarbonization of all parts of society and the economy.”
After all, this will play a major role in managing and reducing the nation’s carbon emissions. “The UK needs a nationwide program to upgrade almost every house. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) 2018 report, Scaling Up Retrofit 2050, advises that nearly every home in the UK needs to be upgraded with energy efficiency measures. That is 1.5 homes per minute by the year 2050. Currently, the UK Government does not have a robust long-term national strategy with a funding mechanism in place to retrofit our homes,” added the group.
Why are insulating houses important?
According to a new report, domestic heating alone accounts for about 14 percent of the UK’s emissions. However decarbonizing and heating can make houses and energy usage more efficient. The whole process will cost about £200 billion over the next three decades. However, the effort is worth it as this will help in resisting heat flow and finally reduce heating costs.
“One of the easiest and most effective energy-efficient technologies available today is insulation. Overall benefits from insulation are numerous, including thermal performance, personal comfort, sound control, condensation control, fire protection, and personnel protection. The thermal insulating properties of insulation materials provide important energy and environmental benefits,” revealed a study by The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association. Insulating domestic houses will help the UK government to stick to the Paris Agreement.