Get Out of the Kitchen
by Austin Williams
It’s official. June 2026 has had hotter weather than the great heatwave of 1976 with mid-week temperatures expected to “get close to 40C in some parts of the country”. Fifty years ago, it was, on reflection, just a balmy 36 deg C.
Our current red alert heatwave has lasted 3 whole days whereas in 1976, the warm summer lasted for 2 full months. Today there is a clamour for shutting schools; whereas back then I sat in a deckchair revising for my A-levels. Today we are advised not to travel; back in the summer of ‘76 we were all awaiting Demis Roussos to hit the Number 1 spot to inspire us back to the sweltering beaches of the Aegean. The following year, Brits holidayed in Athens at 40 deg C.
The one week’s heatwave in the UK has inspired the government to say that British homes will need air-conditioning to survive forthcoming climate change. Its Climate Change Committee said that air con should be installed in all care homes, hospitals and schools within 10 – 25 years. For a long time, air conditioning has been seen as the problem. In 2010, The Guardian wrote, with classic understatement, that “air-conditioning is baking our world”. Overnight it has become our salvation.
Indeed, one report states categorically that “Air conditioning can save lives, boost productivity and help the UK achieve net zero” Meanwhile, a collection of eco-activists rushed to explain that air-conditioning wasn’t the solution, but part of the problem claiming that it will add 0.03°C to 0.07°C of global warming by 2050, “equivalent of around 74–183 billion of transatlantic return flights”. This is the story of Net Zero. It’s not about getting the right answer, it’s about forcing everyone to argue over the same toss. Cold or hot, climate change is bad and we really have to pay any price to stop it.
The latest government ruse is the mandatory Future Homes Standard which, from next year, will ban the use of fossil fuel heating in all new homes built in the UK. That should keep us cool.
In the new era of economic probity, this new construction standard doesn’t pretend to save us money on heating bills; it is purely about prioritising lowering emissions. It insists that homeowners will not mind spending more upfront costs if they can be shown to be saving the planet. The sole intent is that carbon emissions will be 75% lower than 2013 standards and this target-driven approach has very little to say about domestic comfort levels and the homeowner’s personal choices.
Everyone is aware of the statistical anomaly that says that around 3 – 5 times as many people die of cold, rather than heat. The Lancet shows that this is a trend across all continents, with Asia, for example, having ten times as many cold-related deaths as heat-related. It is clear that for the preservation of life, houses need heating.
But the government’s new sustainability strategy is towards creating new homes that are “zero carbon ready”. Saving carbon is the objective… period. Gas boilers will be banned (to save carbon, of course) and the installation of solar panels will be mandated, water butts and turbines are recommended. Then there’s the wastewater heat recovery from your bath, an electric vehicle charging point as standard, and triple-glazing everywhere. It seems like a long way away from universal provision and more towards individual survivalism. Don’t build more reservoirs to overcome drought; just dip into your rainwater barrel. Don’t provide mains nuclear power to overcome energy shortages, just run your TV off a photovoltaic cell and you’ll be OK, Jack.
The Future Homes Standard stipulates that 40% of the ground floor area of a new home or non-domestic building should be the equivalent area of solar panels attached to the roof. Architects and housebuilders will be encouraged to avoid dormer windows, rooflights, hipped roofs, etc that might make the house more aesthetically pleasing and improve living spaces but will intrude on the space required for chunky, Chinese solar PV.
Heat pumps will be the default technology for heating your new home and for warming your water. Solar panels will top up the water heating. Anyone complaining that it doesn’t warm the water enough, or that they will now have a tank in the loft and a hot water cylinder taking up space, larger radiators, thicker, pricier insulation, etc will have accusatory fingers pointed at them.
So, relax in the warmth while you can. We have a year or so before this kicks in, but it is certainly going ahead. The moral argument for it all, brooks no challenge.
All this zero carbon heating paraphernalia will cost around £16 – 18,000, paid for by the developer, who will recoup this in house process rises. But fear not, the energy-saving payback on investment for an average 2-bed, 4-person house will be around £800 per year. You should start seeing the benefit in 20 years. That’s bad enough but the relentless focus on emissions will marginalise practical concerns like liveability, aesthetics, and comfort, as well as the unspoken costs and long-term maintenance burdens for owners.
As a lasting legacy by Kier Starmer’s outgoing government, we are going to have to get used to homes getting a great deal more expensive, and a whole lot chillier. We’ll see the difference, not in summer, but in politically-incorrect winter deaths.
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