DECARBONISING OFF-GRID HOMES:�JUST TRANSITIONS ACROSS THE RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE

Yael Arbell

CRESR,�Sheffield Hallam University

Image: Eric Petschek

Overview

• Off-grid homes in the UK
• The study: aims and methods
• Why are there homes off the grid in 2025 UK?
• Residents’ voices
• Towards a just transition

Off grid homes in the UK

2000

homes completely off grid (no mains electricity or gas)

homes off the mains gas grid.

4.3M

Heating

Oil boilers, coal, �Log burners

Energy

Diesel generators

Solar panels

Location

Mainly rural areas and national parks, but also urban

Image source: Climate Action Northumberland website

The research

• Northern Gas Network, Northern Powergrid: �how feasible are connections? What other options exist?
• The team: Prof Aimee Ambrose (energy expert), Dr Yael Arbell, Dr Simon Lannon, Prof Rokia Raslan (sustainable architecture experts) Ella Schaeffer, Tim Ashworth (engineers)

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• providing transferable lessons for the 15% of properties in the UK that are �off grid/partially off grid.

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Why are there off-grid homes in 2025 UK?

£60,000+

Costs of connecting one house to the electricity grid

planning restrictions on national parks, MoD land. No gas connection. Landowners’ rights

Location

Image: Houses for Sale in Cumbria

Barriers to decarbonisation

Aesthetics

Preserving period features; sentiment

Security

Reliable energy sources for remote areas

Fabric first

Retrofitting old homes �for new tech is disruptive and expensive

Photo: The Yorkshire Post

Location

Solar panels and wind turbines require specific conditions

Willingness / Ability to decarbonise

Not One Size Fits All

• Rural homes are remote and exposed to the elements
• Location, age and condition, size and its special character – all limit options. ​
• Some needed very comprehensive work that required residents to move out and may affect the appearance they loved. ​Moving out can be expensive and disruptive.
• Those with complex health conditions/vulnerable occupants makes major works particularly hard to manage.

Wanted: expert tradespeople!

• Residents struggled to find expert advice and trusted, professionally trained tradespeople:

“They could find people to give the advice, and they could find people who wanted the advice, but then they couldn't find people to refer them to”. 

• Not trusting the government and companies related to their schemes:

“I wouldn't let anybody �come near my cottage �with a barge pole”

• trusting old tradesperson, lost without them
• Without local installers and maintenance, no solution will be viable

Preparations for heat pump installation at the 17^th Century Dorset country house, Kingston Lacy. �Photo: James Dobson, National Trust

Planners and planning restrictions

“First thing when working out whether we could put panels in the field was to go to the planner. And first of all he said it couldn't be done. It wouldn't allow it. (...) The man I went to, he was just a typical planner. Eventually when you put the application in the application got approved” (North Yorkshire).

“But the property where we are, we can't put solar panels on our house because we've got bats in the loft (...) it's registered nest and roost” (Northumberland).

“The national park is a good national park, but we don't want to live in a museum”.  �(Northumberland)

Traditional roofscape in Hawkshead, the Lake District. �Planners require careful consideration to integrate solar panels without harming the character.

Photo: Lake District National Park

(Mis)trust in new technology

• Concerns about noise from the system, disruption, space taken up, immature technology, does not meet their needs and preferences (i.e. for radiant rather than convective heat).

“We've talked to quite a lot of people about air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps, and I'd say the negative stories are like 1:10 to the positive ones. So then when you weigh up the fact that you hear so many bad things and it costs such a lot of money it makes you scared to spend the money” (Cumbria)

Money, Money, Money

• “But I mean, … You like to stand on your own feet and you don't like to beg for money. But it gets to a point where it's not sustainable. Yeah. If you don't get help on it”. (Northumberland)
• “Grants for farms have a very high minimum: they’re aimed at large dairies, not suitable for small farms like ours” (Cumbria)
• Grants are only for those on low income, but the cost is too high for those on a medium income: “my idle neighbours who rely on benefits were eligible for a free heat pump and other energy efficient support, while I have worked all my life and saved for a pension and cannot access this support”. (Cumbria)

CONNECTION/ISOLATION

“They're trying to bring in where everyone goes to the digital phone line rather than the mains line. Well, that would be no good. Yeah. If we had a power cut, we get no electric, we get no phone signal, we've got nothing. We're very remote and cut off if we haven't got our landline” (Northumberland)

Us and Them

• “I think there's still a lot of North-South divide in the sense of, I think a lot of people do feel abandoned by their government here and they think that the decisions they're making are not with the best interests at heart because they even they look back to Thatcherism and they look back to the closing of the mine” �(County Durham)
• “But what I am conscious of is the government is thinking about forcing us into not using all the things that work for us, which they eventually will (...), if that is forced upon somebody in this situation, they would have to shut the door and leave the cottage, probably. Or have a huge amount of money to spend”. (Northumberland)
• “The way the law stands at the moment (...) existing properties, old properties who have never had a connection, they seem to be having to pay, whereas new builds with the first connection don't pay £8000 VAT. So straight away there's an inconsistency there. Surely a first connection is a first connection!” (Northumberland)

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Towards a just transition�

• Affordability is the most important factor �Tailor funding to the needs of recipients. Off grid households are at risk of fuel poverty and being stranded on expensive fossil fuels. They should be a top priority for retrofit innovation
• Introduce new technologies with effective maintenance support and customer service
• Train expert, reliable tradespeople
• Build Trust: Make changes with local people and trusted local organisations
• Success stories
• Reluctance to change, feeling pushed: Balance urgency with a phased transition

THANK YOU

This study was funded by: