Improving energy efficiency

I don't know about any such schemes.
I have read the Executive Summary of the Environmental Strategy and the points that I think need further emphasis regarding Energy Efficiency are:
1. works on improving efficiency in exisitng homes, not just new build. The existing housing stock will be with us for many decades to come.
2. Explicit recognition that many people rent homes and the disbenefits they have of poor insulation, expensive bills etc are not felt by those that own the property ie the landlords. Along with the various gas safety and fire protection requirements that are necessary for rental properties there should be requirements for energy efficiency measures.

No, I don't know anything about any schemes offered by the Mayor or Government.

More important, however, are the issues raised by quite a few respondents already below regarding property ownership and responsibility. I have lived in London for a decade on countless short assured tenancy contracts in rental properties north and south of the river, both privately and agency managed. In my experience, when it comes to energy efficiency measures, tenants can do little more than installing apps on their phones and "smart meters". Add to those the recourse of changing energy supplier, which in my experience as a tenant has made no difference on my savings and little difference on environmental sustainability (when the option of using renewable energy seems non-existent in London). None of these three measures will contribute much to energy efficiency of a property that lacks or has poor wall and roof insulation, double-glazed windows, and a modern high efficiency boilers. All these features must be decided by the landlord.

So yes: start with the landlords or we will get absolutely nowhere on energy efficiency and sustainability in this city. I'd add that the Mayor must ensure a fair playing field for small landlords and big ones that addresses the obvious inequality of means between the two groups: eg. give subsidies/incentives to small private landlords for their energy upgrades and tax/regulate more briskly the big "portfolio buy-to-let" landlords who own scores of 2-bedroom apartments managed through lettings agencies to make sure they also bring their properties up to new energy standards.

We live in a Grade II star listed house, and we think we should be allowed to put in solar panels in the M-shaped (valley) roof and on the southern slope of our roof where few or no people can see them. Yet the random and restrictive attitude of our council (Camden) deters us -- our neighbour was denied permission to waterproof his vault cellar in a sensitive manner that preserved the historical structure. As a result, he cannot use it. We are going to have the same problem, so what's the use of asking for permission to install solar panels or double glazing in a responsible manner? No one benefits from such an attitude.

No, I haven't heard of these schemes but as I live in Council property I would not beet from most of them.

That said, it would be great if Council's were "encouraged" to consider fitting solar panels/Wind generators to new builds plus consider retro fitting them to existing builds thus off setting some of the resident's energy bills.

The money could come partly from a modest rent increase and partly from London Authority/Government.

Energy efficiency:
Well , well another double edged sword.
So we all become 50%more efficient.
What do you think the energy companies will do? Up the price! They have to, to pay high management and workers pay. Reduce staff? What are they going to do? More on benefits.
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All energy saving methods are good. But some houses with double glazing are now at tropical temperatures indoors. In our house, we keep the windows open almost the whole year round, including bedrooms. We rarely put the heating on, (although we have hot water), and we light a woodburner in the evenings which makes the room really warm. We never feel cold. It is how we evolved to be. Our visitors are freezing and keep their coats on! So we close the windows and put the heating on full blast for visitors, and our faces go bright red while they are still a "bit chilly". I'm just saying maybe people can acclimatise to lower indoor temperatures, if we wanted to.

unaware of anything.

The mayor should be encouraging people to get off gas,

Heat pumps for hot water are insanely efficient even in cold temperatures. As most of the heating in UK is hot water radiator this is an amazing opportunity to save energy and lower carbon emissions and the British grid decarbonises.

The up front capital expense is a barrier to entry. The mayor should provide loans to be repaid through additional council tax payment to enable these capex costs.

Add to that an inexpensive induction cooktop and a household is totally off gas and on the way to zero carbon

http://www.bublshop.co.uk/heat-pumps/c1?sortby=pricel-h&filter=cf3247af…

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewable-energy/heat/air-source-he…

As well as this all those ideas it would be great to see some double glazing installed! I know that the majority of flats are in conservation areas but relaxing of these rules to allow glass planes to be upgraded will help enormously. I know that you can buy specialist planes which are thinner but still have a partial vacuum between them to enable the double glazing effect, whilst still fitting in the old style frames. Expensive but the savings on things like heating would be immense.

More needs to be done for people renting from private landlords, as the landlords have no incentive to install solar panels which will be a substantial cost to them and only save the renters money.

Similar to other users comments, I have to place blame with local authority (Tower Hamlets, in this instance) Planning Departments - so much of our borough consists of listed properties and are deemed as being in 'conservation areas' - that we are absolutely prevented from installing double glazing, draught-free doors, solar panels or any other proposed energy efficiency measures. We have applied and applied to do these things and always get told "No." 'It would detrimentally affect the appearance of the area.' Utterly sickening - when you wish to settle in an area, improve the thermal/energy efficiency of your home - and are prevented from doing so by the local authority. Especially when non-resident owners/landlords simply go ahead and install UPVC double glazing in a tenanted rental property further down the same street!!

It's not just private landlords. Local authorities become very protective over what you are permitted to do if you are the leaseholder of a council owned property. I live on a main road and have attempted to get permission to fit double glazing, to not only keep out the noise, but to also keep in the heat in winter months.

Camden Council are reluctant to spend money on leaseholder properties in preference to council tenants who have had new bathrooms, kitchens, boilers, cavity wall insulation, doors and double glazing fitted. When I offered to pay for the double glazing to be fitted myself, they refused permission to do so stating they had control of the outside of the building and I wasn't allowed to touch the front door or windows. This is despite there having been no building maintenance to the property in over 20 years.

I agree with Bumphere's comment below. So many Londoners live in homes they have no say over. I would love to have energy efficient tech in my home - a smart meter, solar panels etc. Measures like this are in the questions of the survey you're running at the moment and I agreed to them all. But there's no space in that survey to say the reason I'm not doing these things is because I can't. I can't even change the colour of my walls, put a shelf up, get a leaking tap fixed! There a hundreds of thousands of Londoners who want to do the right things but most landlords couldn't care less. The people who own my home don't even live in the UK - why would they care about making London a better city?! Please think of ways to target landlords, their behaviour and attitudes impact my life and the environment of this city and if we don't get them to care, then any initiatives will fail.

There needs to be something to target private landlords with energy efficency upgrades. Spending money on these things is something they are reluctant to do as it hurts their profit margin.

It means Generation Rent spend more on bills and have less left over to save for a deposit and rewards those that already own their home.