  Poor energy efficiency of homes is a major problem with urgent environmental
and social implications. Housing in the UK relies heavily on fossil fuels for
energy supply and has some of the lowest energy efficiency in Europe. We
explore spatial variations in energy efficiency across England using data from
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), which cover approximately half of the
residential stock (14M homes between 2008-22). We examine variations between
authorities after accounting for the composition of the housing stock in terms
of its fixed characteristics of property type, building age and size. We
explore variations in terms of geographical and social context (region,
urban-rural and deprivation), which gives a picture of the scale of the
challenge each faces. We also examine variations in relation to the more
readily upgraded factors, such as glazing types, and in relation to local
participation in improvement programmes which gives some insight into local
actions or progress achieved.
