HOMES account for around thirteen per cent of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions, and over two million need to be retrofitted to meet net zero targets.

Decarbonising properties may be one of the Scottish Government’s biggest challenges to date, set to cost in excess of a whopping £33 billion.

With the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee holding a debate on retrofitting in Holyrood on Tuesday, the Sunday National has picked out the crucial information you need to know.

WHAT IS RETROFITTING?

RETROFITTING is the addition of new technology to older systems in homes and buildings to improve air tightness and make them more energy efficient. This could be a combination of improvements, such as loft, floor and wall insulation, draught proofing, and double or triple glazing of windows, and zero or net zero emissions heating systems – heat pumps, biomass boilers, direct electric heating, or connecting a house to heat network supplied by a low carbon or renewable heat source.

HOW BIG IS THE CHALLENGE AHEAD?

MORE than 2m homes in Scotland use mains gas as their primary heating fuel, and 170,000 properties use high emission fuels such as heating oil or coal. There are only around 278,000 dwellings that have a renewable or very low emissions heating system. The Scottish Government has set 2045 as the target date for emissions from homes to “all but disappear”.

According to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), recent figures show around 3000 renewable heating systems were installed each year previously.

With the interim target of one million homes to be retrofitted by 2030, this needs to be scaled up to provide at least 124,000 systems between 2021 and 2026.

The installation rate then needs to pick up the pace and deliver 200,000 new systems a year by the late 2020s.

WHAT ABOUT MIXED-USE BUILDINGS, SUCH AS FLATS?

ACCORDING to the Heat in Building’s Strategy, mixed-use properties, such as tenement flats above commercial properties, will have a “bespoke approach” to regulation as many may need to retrofit the whole building. Mixed-use or mixed-tenure properties under certain circumstances may be given until 2040-2045 to complete works.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

ASIDE from the environmental benefits, the project will create job opportunities. There are also several sites in Scotland which manufacture heat pumps. One of the Scottish Government’s main goals is to reduce fuel poverty and ensure future energy costs are affordable.

WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS?

THE main stumbling block will be getting homeowners and landlords on board, with the cost of installing heat pumps and improving energy efficiency estimated at £12,000 per home. The Scottish Government has committed £18bn over the lifetime of the current parliament towards energy efficiency programmes and renewable heat schemes in a bid to tackle this. There is also the fact that policy on energy markets is reserved to the UK Government, who also say they are currently working to “address energy pricing that can act as a barrier to decarbonisation”.

It should also be noted that there are thousands of registered Gas-Safe engineers in Scotland, and a Just Transition for those workers will also be needed.

HOW DO THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT INTEND TO GET THE PUBLIC ON BOARD?

A HUGE public information campaign, raising awareness and engaging with communities will be key. The National Public Energy Agency will play a large role in this and provide expert advice. Council’s will also be involved too, and develop their own local heat and energy efficiency strategies to set out long term goals for retrofitting and improving energy efficiency in their area.