Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen
As i may have said before I visited Copenhagen for work ten or more years ago to report on its housing policy and its energy regulations.
They just get tougher and tougher, with lots of warning for the architectural and construction industries about what is coming and total political agreement about the way ahead.
Even when I visited the walls on new build houses were feet thick, windows were triple glazed and there was no attic space as it was rammed with insulation. Furthermore rainwater was collected and used for everything but cooking and drinking. In 2008, the Danish government agreed to cut the energy needs of buildings by 25% in 2010, 25% in 2015 and another 25% in 2020 - a total reduction of 75% .
It helps explain a map of Europe showing how quickly properties lose heat. The UK was the worst by far, around three times worse than Denmark and similar countries.
Yet in the UK the industry fights back against green standards saying they would increase house prices, when the main price of property is the land and energy efficiency pays for itself.
If you wanted to avoid an energy crisis insulating new property to very high standards and upgrading older homes with a multi billion pound effort would have been the answer.
But the UK is miles behind and not really even trying to catch up. So we end up with calls to scrap green levies and other taxes.
Not a long term solution.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.