This summer’s heatwaves have reinforced the need for wider use of residential cooling, according to members of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).
The Association, which represents specialist firms who design, install and maintain heating, cooling and ventilation systems, said the rapid improvement in heat pump technology was an opportunity to provide cooling to more homes and address the “overheating crisis” that was now affecting a record number of people.
“We need an urgent rethink about how we cool and ventilate our homes, especially in our existing housing stock” said BESA technical director Kevin Morrissey. “Winter fuel payments were recently top of the political agenda, but a similar summer cooling scheme, targeted at vulnerable members of the population, now deserves serious consideration.”
He said BESA members had been sounding the alarm about overheating and poor air quality in buildings for many years, but the growing duration and intensity of heatwaves was making this issue increasingly urgent.
“A recent study found that up to 80% of UK homes now regularly overheat in summer and the government reports that UK summertime temperatures will be between 1.3°C and 5.1°C warmer over the coming decades.
“This will have a hugely detrimental effect on people’s health, wellbeing and productivity,” said Morrissey.
The UK heatwaves of 2022 led to almost 3,000 excess deaths, but the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) suggested that official figures may have been significantly underestimated as heat is often not reported as an official cause of death for someone with a pre-existing health condition.
The British Medical Journal reports that annual heat related deaths across the UK could rise to more than 10,000 by 2050 with children, vulnerable adults and low-income families disproportionately affected. Heat can affect the health, wellbeing, productivity and performance of otherwise healthy children and adults, but can be fatal for anyone suffering from heart problems, diabetes, and respiratory issues
Morrissey said the All Party Parliamentary Group for Healthy Homes and Buildings, which BESA sponsors, was providing expert guidance to the government and had suggested adapting several existing policies to address the overheating issue.
“Programmes like the Warm Homes Plan, Great British Insulation Scheme and Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), are designed to improve heating efficiency, but these could equally be used to help people who are just as vulnerable to heat as they are to winter cold,” he said.
“Improving insulation is important for reducing heating bills and carbon emissions but, unless it is done in tandem with better ventilation and cooling, can lead to overheating, damp, mould and poor air quality – all of which can have a devastating effect on human health and wellbeing.”
BESA is, therefore, urging the government to revise the BUS with a view to improving incentives for heat pumps which provide both heating and cooling. It says the funding arrangements should be more flexible as the number of heat pumps being fitted remained well below government targets.
“It is a significant drawback that grant funding is not available for air-to-air heat pumps that provide cooling as well as heating. Not only could this help to tackle overheating but would also fuel additional market growth and help to reduce carbon emissions.”
However, he added that mechanical cooling/air conditioning should not be seen as “a panacea” and that it needed to be considered alongside other methods such as shading and smart controls that help to balance energy consumption as part of a holistic approach to building retrofits.
