Coordinated switching
www.nesta.org.uk/coordinated-switching/
www.nesta.org.uk/coordinated-switching/
The UK's current approach to low-carbon heating relies primarily on individual household decisions, supported by government incentives and regulations. We think that the UK should also implement a more coordinated strategy, facilitating the transition of multiple households within a specific geographic area - be it a street, neighbourhood, or larger region - to low-carbon heating systems.
Coordinated switching is a proposed approach to enabling area-based low-carbon heating schemes. We think this will involve a few key steps: identifying groups of households where many homes could benefit from a specific approach, developing area-based schemes covering many homes, and then supporting households in that area to join the scheme.
Our previous work mapped the stakeholder groups involved and proposed new organisations at a local and national level that should be created to enable widespread coordinated switching. We suggest local heat bodies should sit at a local government level, with a national heat unit providing resources and guidance at a national level.
Our work so far suggests that there may be five key steps to coordinated switching:
We need to increase the pace of low-carbon heat adoption. Coordinated switching would help to expedite rollout alongside offering:
Our work on coordinated switching will look to:
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