1. Kevin McCloud, 'Momentum is building for the Great British Refurb', 24 April 2009, The Guardian, posted on www.guardian.co.uk

2. Kevin McCloud, Biography, posted on www.channel4.com

3. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 'Table 5a - Estimated emissions of Greenhouse Gases by National Communication source category and end user: 1990 - 2007', accessed through 'e-Digest Statistics about: Climate Change', posted on www.defra.gov.uk

4. Kevin McCloud, 'How to embark on an odyssey of passion, aspiration, creativity and pure effort', 30 April 2008, The Independent, House and Home Supplement

Kevin McCloud sells the virtue of "eco-thickness"

On 8 June 2009 the presenter of Channel 4's Grand Designs started what he calls the Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign. McCloud aims to give Gordon Brown's programme of home insulation an impetus. But he misunderstands the energy dynamics of housing.

On the campaign's website, www.greatbritishrefurb.com , McCloud writes:

'There are more than 26 million homes in Britain, most of which are intensely inefficient, leak heat and cost a fortune to run. They also account for around 27 per cent of the country's man-made carbon dioxide. The Government wants to have reduced our carbon output by 80 per cent by 2050, which, given that the majority of these 26 million homes will still be standing, is a hopelessly unrealistic target. Unless we can improve their eco-credentials.'

As The Guardian puts it, '... Kevin McCloud is calling for a revolution in your loft.' (1)

But there's a big problem with this approach. A revolution in British housing demands building anew, not make-do-and-mend surgery under old roofs. James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting and innovation at De Montfort University, Leicester, and co-author of Energ!se: A future for energy innovation, says that McCloud has made a fundamental mistake:

'To deal with energy losses from housing, McCloud should be arguing for new homes, not refurbished old ones. To patch up Britain's housing stock is a Sisyphean task. Anyway, Gordon Brown's programme of "insulation, insulation, insulation" only showed that the prime minister was more committed to the bunker mentality than to progress. Why? Because, provided they are well designed, new homes can start off being efficient in energy terms. By contrast, old homes can never be amended to match new ones for energy efficiency.'

First-time buyers, and a lot of other people besides, already need Britain to build more than New Labour's lamentable total of 100,000 new homes a year. What we don't need is less space to swing a cat in, and more ugliness. Yet these are the evident and unintended consequences of McCloud's policy, as Woudhuysen explains:

'Fibrous and foam insulation must reach substantial thicknesses to make any difference. Applied internally, that cuts down floorspace; applied to exteriors, that demands re-cladding walls and roofs so that they are nearly half a metre thick. Clunky or what?'

New homes, by contrast, can be constructed with sandwich-thin but highly advanced insulation built-in. Vacuum insulation panels, already used in the doors of many refrigerators, cut heat loss tremendously, and are typically a tenth of the thickness of fibres and foams that lose heat at ambient air pressure. VIPs are available to be used in construction now.

McCloud prefers the warmth of morality in his designer "eco-thickness".

'It behoves us all – in fact, I think it's an ethical prerogative – to minimise the use of highly processed materials, to recycle, to insulate and minimise the use of fossil fuels to keep our buildings warm.' Checking his environmental zealotry, McCloud resorts to the safety of the qualification that '... sustainable issues are complex, involving "full life cycle" and "embodied energy" analyses, and the eco-lobby's resorting to scare mongering doesn't make things easier. So it's important to research building methods and materials fully.' (2) McCloud should undertake and publish some basic research before rejecting "highly processed materials" and the use of energy for human comfort. But why would he let research spoil a popular "green" TV programme obsessed with property values at the luxury end of the market? It is far easier for him to dismiss industrial production of high performance, low cost construction products.

McCloud is also happy to go on TV scaremongering about the threat of climate change. The global threats from domestic Carbon Dioxide emissions are not as he dramatically suggests. On top of his ignorance about energy efficiency, McCloud misunderstands CO2 emissions.

He repeats the widespread canard that British houses "account" for more than a quarter of British CO2 emissions. What he means is that consumption of central heating, hot water and electricity results in 27 per cent of national emissions. But in terms of the CO2 directly generated on-site, in homes, he should use the figure of about 15 per cent. (3) Boilers generate CO2 on site, but use of lights, appliances, consumer electronics and IT in the home only sets off CO2 back at power stations. So it's not true to say, as McCloud does, that homes "guzzle energy". Fix electricity supply, and much of McCloud's "residential" emissions would vanish.

It is more to McCloud's liking to moralise about a headline of "27 per cent of the country's man-made carbon dioxide" than to explain the data in www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/globatmos/. To the extent that the site emitted 15 per cent is important, McCloud should be arguing for new homes, not refurbished old ones. He should also be looking for a transformation in mains energy infrastructure for the other 12 per cent. Better mains supply would also benefit non-residential energy users. Instead, ignoring utilities, McCloud tells his audience:

'Do cram in more insulation, do collect rainwater in a tank. Or, like me, do install a huge biomass boiler at great expense. It's worth every penny... So insulate, insulate, insulate. Get energy-efficient lightbulbs, and A+ rated white goods. And when you've finished watching that episode of Grand Designs, turn the TV off, not on to standby.' (4)

McCloud's proposals to improve the "eco-credentials" of housing are as thick and fluffy as the kind of insulation he upholds. His is the celebrity, not the cerebral, approach to building design and climate change.

Ian Abley 17.06.2009, updated on 20.06.2009

Energ!se the future now, say James Woudhuysen and Joe Kaplinsky 30.01.2009

Buy Energ!se: A future for energy innovation, for £5.99 from Amazon

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