Dezeen Agenda features a study on energy efficiency in UK homes

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features a study by the University of Cambridge that found energy savings from home insulation "vanish" after four years. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now.

According to a study conducted by the University of Cambridge, adding insulation to UK homes only provides short-term energy savings that appear to be cancelled out within a few years by an increase in energy use.

Once the gas-use patterns of more than 55,000 homes across England and Wales were analysed, researchers found that any fall in gas consumption achieved by retrofitting wall insulation was voided within four years.

"We found that energy efficiency retrofits are often combined with home improvements that actually increase consumption, such as extensions," explained Cristina Peñasco, an associate professor in public policy at the University of Cambridge, who co-authored the study.

Other stories in this week's newsletter include a set of renderings that depict unbuilt projects by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, MIT and Harvard researchers' claim to have found the secret to "self-healing" concrete and Pelli Clarke & Partners' Mitikah skyscraper in Mexico City.

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