Britain’s flagship home insulation program has received a damning verdict from the National Audit Office. Under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, tens of thousands of households have been left with faulty or even dangerous installations. It’s a result, the auditors say, of weak oversight, poor skills and confused accountability.
This report is troubling not only because of the human cost but because it exposes a deeper failure of governance in how the UK tries to decarbonize home heating. It’s a complex task that demands long-term stewardship, but is instead being left to the market.
The ECO was designed to make energy suppliers help households cut emissions and bills. Suppliers are the companies that buy electricity or gas from generators and sell it to you—the company named on your bills is your supplier. In theory, the ECO means these suppliers meet government-set carbon or energy saving targets by funding insulation and heating upgrades for households, with regulators checking that installations qualify.
The ECO was preceded by two other schemes that operated on the same principle. For years, they worked reasonably well for simple and low cost measures like loft or cavity wall insulation. But in 2013, the ECO was launched and expanded to cover more complex and expensive retrofits like solid wall insulation—an unprecedented shift.
So what went wrong?
The National Audit Office’s latest findings confirm fears that this was an approach set up to fail. Many installations require major remediation, some pose immediate health risks. The problems are familiar: an under-skilled workforce, uncertified installers, weak regulation and oversight.
Individually, these problems could be fixed. The government could improve installer training, tighten audits and crack down on fraud. But together, they reveal a deeper problem: a misplaced belief that market-based tools can deliver foundational change.
Energy efficiency obligations such as ECO work well for standardized, low-risk actions, like swapping bulbs or improving boilers. But, as we warned back in 2012, they are less suited to complex, capital-intensive retrofits of millions of households that require lots of coordination and long-term financing.
The UK’s energy efficiency governance still sits at arm’s length from the realities in people’s homes. Responsibilities are split confusingly between suppliers, Whitehall departments, auditors and local authorities, and it can often seem like no one is really in charge.
That’s why the failings highlighted in the National Audit Office report are not just implementation glitches or down to some “bad apple” installers. They’re failings of a governance model designed for incremental change, not the transformation required for net zero.
German lessons
If the UK really wants to retrofit millions of homes, it should look to what’s worked in other countries. Germany’s long-running KfW loan program is one example. For more than three decades it has supported high-performance refurbishments through low-interest loans and grants. Successive German governments have recognized that the returns—in jobs, tax revenues, economic stimulus—have consistently outweighed the upfront cost.
By contrast, ECO has been repeatedly restructured, with shifting targets and funding levels that make it hard to plan ahead. Treating home retrofit as a short-term obligation rather than a long-term national project has left the UK far behind its peers.
Retrofitting homes is inherently local (you can’t pick up your house and move it to a different area). Local authorities should therefore play a much stronger role in coordinating delivery, enforcing quality, and linking retrofit to other social goals such as tackling fuel poverty.
Getting councils involved would align retrofit with local priorities rather than distant central government targets. It could also rebuild trust among people who may understandably be wary of such schemes.
The UK’s forthcoming warm homes plan is a chance to reset. The government should take a hard look at the tools at our disposal and think about what is needed to foster the creative and courageous policy needed to decarbonize our homes.
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If you want to get into stargazing in 2025, there’s still a chance to catch some of the best meteor showers of the year. Also known as shooting stars, meteors happen when Earth’s orbital path crosses a path of debris left by a comet and that material burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Watching a meteor shower is one of the most accessible ways to engage with the night sky.
The next shower are the Geminids, a busy and bright shower that peaks in mid-December, offering the chance to see hundreds of shooting stars each hour. This is just one of nine major meteor showers that grace skies throughout the year, and details of when they will appear in the northern hemisphere are listed below—so mark your 2026 calendar for these.
The Next Big Meteor Shower: The Geminids
The Geminids are active from about December 4 to December 17, peaking overnight from December 13 to December 14. They have a sharp peak, so the night of the 13th is the best time for skywatching.
The Geminids are the most spectacular meteor shower of the year. In addition to boasting up to 120 or even 150 meteors per hour during its peak, this meteor shower is also the brightest and most colorful of the year.
The Geminids are bright, slow-moving meteors that often have yellow tones, but they can be a range of other colors, including green, blue, white, red, or orange. And unlike most meteors, which are caused by comet debris, the Geminids are the remnants of an asteroid.
The night that the Geminids peak, their radiant, the constellation Gemini, will be above the horizon all night and will reach its highest point around 2 am local time, so meteors will be visible almost the whole night.
That same night, the moon will be about 32 percent illuminated and will rise around 1:30 am in the eastern US, so if you watch this shower shortly after midnight, the moonlight won’t interfere with your viewing experience.
How to Watch a Meteor Shower
You don’t need any special equipment to see a meteor shower—in fact, using devices like binoculars or telescopes actually prevents you from seeing meteors, because they travel too fast to be seen through the lenses of such equipment. All you need are your eyes, a dark sky with little to no moonlight, and a location that’s away from excess light, as moonlight and light pollution can wash out shooting stars.
Note that the moon appears (rises) and disappears (sets) in the night sky at different times depending on what time zone you are in. All moonrise/moonset times in this piece are for the eastern US. You can use tools like Time and Date’s moonrise/moonset calendar or this tool from the US Naval Observatory to check the precise moonrise/moonset times in your exact location.
Managing complex responsibilities is a common task for digital leaders. However, for Erik Mayer, transformation chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the mix of responsibilities is central to his role.
He spends about 40% of his time in the clinic and the rest helping to define the future of digital healthcare.
“I enjoy both roles because, actually, they should be intertwined,” he says. “I have many conversations with clinical and academic colleagues who say, ‘Can I get access to this data?’ That’s why it should be intertwined, because what you put in is what you get out.”
Mayer’s successful transition from the surgery room to the IT department began during his PhD research from 2006 to 2009, when he analysed data to produce evidence for centralising cancer services and improving patient care. Through his role at the trust, he became involved in technology implementation projects.
“I’ve always been in and around data and producing robust evidence for why we should or shouldn’t do things,” he says.
“Then, at Imperial Trust, I was a surgical trainee and became involved in IT, informatics and data warehouse-type environments. I was heavily involved in the work when we went live with the Cerner electronic patient record in 2014.”
As Mayer’s experience grew, so did the opportunities to move into new areas. In 2018, after a competitive process, he was appointed to his current role. He has continued to expand his compass while working on the healthcare frontline.
“I wanted to be forward-thinking about creating secure environments to support access to data for driving research and innovation,” he says.
“I wear many hats. I’m a practising surgeon, transformation CCIO, clinical social professor in Imperial College, and I head up the directorate of the iCARE Secure Data Environment (SDE), which is a digital collaboration space that spans the university and the trust.”
Fostering collaboration
Looking back on his seven years in the CCIO role, Mayer says the data environment has evolved into today’s cloud-based platform using Microsoft Azure and Snowflake technology. He says the transformation process was accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’d already set up the environment and had some exemplar projects going on where we were supporting healthcare delivery in the trust,” he says.
“Then Covid hit and, suddenly, there was a huge appetite and urgency about accessing data to support basic decision-making around operational processes.”
These processes included monitoring the number of people with the virus and moving patients around the hospital to free up intensive care beds. Through a collaboration with the North West London Integrated Care Board, Mayer and his peers brought together two key datasets, making it possible to track trends across 2.8 million people.
“I wear many hats. I’m a practising surgeon, transformation CCIO, clinical social professor in Imperial College, and I head up the directorate of the iCARE Secure Data Environment”
Erik Mayer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
“That created a burning platform for data,” he says, looking back on the interest in information that this initiative helped to foster for the longer term. “Today, that data is now fully migrated and held in the same secure environment as the Imperial Trust data, as well as other databases across different tendencies.”
Mayer says having all these databases together in a secure data environment makes it easier for people to link insights. This capability has changed the mindset of people using data. Previously, particularly in the academic world, people and organisations had to set up data-sharing agreements. Now, collaboration is fast becoming the standard way of working.
“This project brought people into the data environment to do their research and innovation. That approach brought academics together with clinicians and data scientists, meaning we could get quick answers around risk prediction and other insights,” he says.
“Our digital transformation was about bringing the right multidisciplinary people together to work collaboratively in a secure way. Fundamentally, of course, by doing that, you maintain the public trust because you’re not selling data off or moving it around.”
Integrating data
Mayer says the implementation of Snowflake technology has been a crucial component of his data-led approach to digital transformation. While it took weeks to ingest data using previous legacy architectures, the Snowflake AI Data Cloud enables data ingestion in days, supporting the work of healthcare professionals in various roles in a secure environment.
“A lot of the projects are research, but we also focus on direct care,” he says. “So, for example, there are several dashboards that are supporting our clinicians in understanding patients and high-risk cohorts. So it’s direct care research, but it’s also about operational decision-making and efficiencies.”
Our digital transformation was about bringing the right multidisciplinary people together to work collaboratively in a secure way Erik Mayer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The organisation is also tapping into the Snowflake Marketplace, an online platform where users source third-party data for its use in the AI Data Cloud. Through the marketplace, research and clinical teams have access to additional non-health data for research and clinical care. Potential sources include Ordnance Survey and the Met Office.
“This is an interesting area for us,” says Mayer, referring to the use of marketplace data. “We’re just starting on this journey. With some of the data, for example, you can start to understand where people live, what services they’re accessing, and why.”
This in-depth detail will be crucial as organisations attempt to support the long-term vision of the NHS 10-year health plan for neighbourhood-based healthcare services.
“You have the evidence to show what is happening, so you can start to plan better,” he says. “Bringing together data is now a way to help us support hospitals and the community.”
Mayer and his colleagues are exploring other ways to exploit the platform. One key use case is federation, including how other trusts in north-west London can share primary and secondary care data. Another use case is artificial intelligence (AI). The data team’s AI testbed in its SDE is supported by Snowflake and Accenture, with secure access to Microsoft AI services and models.
“If you can leave the source data in the separate SDEs and then federate to allow algorithms to run across those sources, you’re not duplicating the cost and resources,” he says.
“So, that’s the piece we’re just developing across environments, which will support, again, operational efficiency, direct care and, of course, research.”
“The interoperability piece for sharing information on individual patients across healthcare providers is critical,” he says. “Just in terms of time savings, you’re not having to sit there trying to understand what’s happened so far – it’s all linked up. And I’m seeing that in my practice now, it’s happening. That kind of federation is a game-changer.”
“These initiatives have gone a long way already to providing a front door for access to data with an explanation around what it is, the clinical definitions and the metadata,” he says.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to build on what we’ve got so far, because that effort has been developing well over the last three or four years.”
This progress includes work in his own organisation. “Within the iCARE SDE, we have built the London analytics platform,” he says.
“We are one half of the London Secure Data Environment, so we are providing that architecture, and the data will start flowing soon. This effort is not just about our trust. It’s a framework that will support the national agenda.”
The NHS has a chequered history when it comes to IT initiatives. However, Mayer says the progress that’s been made recently in data-led projects is impressive. While digital transformation across large-scale organisations can be a challenging process, he’s positive about the opportunities ahead for UK healthcare.
“Now, I think there’s a requirement for a careful thought piece around how local NHS trusts fund, resource and keep up with change, and thinking about business intelligence units, and how those areas start to shape up,” he says.
Leading transformation
Mayer reflects on the pace of change. He suggests the speed of transformation continues to quicken and that AI will play a crucial role in the future of healthcare.
From optimising schedules to reducing the administrative burden by automating clinician note-taking, emerging technologies can have a big impact. However, the key to success is identifying the right, trusted technological solutions for the business challenges.
“We need to think about the problem and the opportunity, and then look at the technology to support us, as opposed to going, ‘AI is going to solve everything’,” he says.
“We’ve got to maintain the public trust around this transformation. They’re starting to engage with these technologies, so we must consider the digital literacy piece.”
This rapid pace of change can bring new and unexpected challenges to healthcare technologists. Mayer says effective digital leaders will develop professional resilience and respect by building a sense of social capital.
“It’s about being clear about the benefits and impact of what everyone’s doing as a multi-disciplinary team,” he says. “Our team includes data engineers, data scientists, clinicians and nurses. If they can feel, metaphorically, the impact and see the effect on care delivery, then they know they’re making a difference.”
Mayer says those results also inspire him. “As a leader, I see that impact, and that’s what gets me out of bed every day,” he says. “Essentially, successful delivery is about that team environment – it’s having a clear message and clear social capital where you say, ‘This is what we’re trying to do and why’.”
B&H Photo is one of our favorite places to shop for camera gear. If you’re ever in New York, head to the store to check out the giant overhead conveyor belt system that brings your purchase from the upper floors to the registers downstairs (yes, seriously, here’s a video). Fortunately B&H Photo’s website is here for the rest of us with some good deals on photo gear we love.
One of the many perks of B&H Photo is their generous free shipping policy. Most orders at B&H over $49 qualify for free expedited shipping to the lower 48 states. The savings just keep coming, as most items totaling under $49 also qualify for free standard shipping in the contiguous US.If for some reason your order doesn’t qualify for free shipping, you can review alternative shipping options during checkout—full shipping policy details can be found here.
Best Times to Find B&H Promo Codes and Discounts
Like most retailers, B&H Photo offers some of their best deals of the year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to save outside of this sale period. There’s still time to jump on extended holiday sales, with up to $300 24-hour camera discounts, and featured price drops across all accessories. While there may not be any B&H promo codes available at the moment, there are plenty of other ways to save at B&H.
If you’re a student with an EDU email, sign up for B&H Photo’s student discount program, which offers free shipping on most orders and exclusive discounts.
Score Deals on Used and Refurbished Gear
B&H Photo also deals in used and refurbished gear. Deals (and conditions) vary, and I have never purchased a used item this way, but if you’re looking to save some money, that’s another way to go.
Trade-in Your Old Gear at B&H
The flip side of B&H Photos used deals is that you can sell your old gear. I put in my old Sony a7 II and was offered $210, which is more than I would have thought. Your offer is contingent on it matching the condition you claim, but if you’ve got gear you aren’t using anymore, this is a way to turn it into some extra cash.
Snap Up Limited-Time Deals in the Deal Zone
There are always rotating and limited-time B&H Photos deals at this url, which B&H Photo calls the Deal Zone.
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