Comment & Analysis
Polls of the British public in recent years have shown that people are becoming increasingly concerned about climate change. Before the 2017 election, only 8% of voters listed the environment as one of the most important issues facing the country. By the 2019 election this had risen to 26%. A Survation poll also found that a large majority of people indicated that they were willing to make changes to their daily lives to reduce their own carbon footprint. But what do the public think the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK are? And what do they think the best ways to reduce their own contribution?
In December 2020, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers commissioned ICM to conduct a poll into the public’s understanding of this issue. The results have shown that people in general have a reasonably good understanding of what the most polluting activities are. For example, transport was correctly identified as being among the top emitting sectors.
Digging a little deeper, the participants were asked which forms of transport were the biggest contributors within the sector. Sixty percent chose international aviation, 45% chose personal car driving, and 7% train travel. The top two answers for what they thought they could do personally that would have the biggest impact on emissions was to drive less and take fewer flights. When asked what Government policy would have the most impact in the transport sector the most common answer was to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.
In contrast to the general view of transport being a large contributor to the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, very few people chose home heating as one of the top emitting sectors. Only 15% listed it in one of their three choices. Twice as many chose livestock farming. Home heating was the second lowest choice above only crop farming, despite accounting for around 13% of total UK emissions.
The decarbonisation of home heating is one of biggest challenges we face as a country in trying to meet our 2050 Net Zero emissions target. Most homes in Britain have gas boilers. They are efficient and convenient, but collectively they are a large source of emissions. Replacing the tens of millions installed across the country with low carbon alternatives will be expensive and disruptive, and possibly very unpopular. The fact that the British public do not seem to think that they are a significant source of our national greenhouse gas emissions could increase resistance to change.
Low carbon alternative technologies to reduce our emissions are necessary, but not sufficient, to reach Net Zero, especially in sectors where public buy-in is necessary. Electric car sales have begun to rise rapidly in large part because the user experience of owning an electric car has improved. Range anxiety is becoming less of a problem as battery technology improves – the Tesla Model 3 is reported to be able to travel more than 300 miles on a single charge. While electric cars can have additional features that improve the user experience, like remote defrost and pre-heat. This means being able to push a button on your smartphone that defrosts the vehicle and heats up the inside. No more scraping ice off the windshield in the morning and spending the first 10 minutes of your journey waiting for the engine to be hot enough to heat the passenger area.
In working toward solutions to the problem of decarbonising the heating of buildings, user experience needs to be increasingly emphasized. The Energy Systems Catapult is leading the way in the UK with ‘Living Lab’ of 200 homes across the country that are used to test out new technologies and how home owners interact with them. Innovations being trialled include energy retailers charging consumers for the outcome they want – rooms heated to the level of warmth they want – rather than the units of fuel. This service model – now common in telecoms and other sectors – can help provide a better consumer outcome and give consumers more confidence to switch to low carbon heating, knowing they will get the heating experience they want.
Making people agree to the disruptive process of replacing their gas boiler will be much easier if they can be shown that the new system will not just be cleaner, but it will also be more convenient and make their homes more comfortable to live in. Consumers and users need to be at the heart of decarbonisation plans.