Laura Selten, sustainability manager UK & Ireland at Beko, discusses the importance of choosing efficient appliances early in the process to reduce home energy consumption
New housing developments in the UK are now being shaped by the transition to the Future Homes Standard and wider net-zero targets. The most visible part of that shift is how homes are heated. Space and water heating remain the largest single source of energy use in UK homes, and the push towards heat pumps and better insulation is already making a real difference.
However, heating is not the whole picture. Domestic appliances, as a group, represent a significant source of home electricity demand.
Moreover, as heating demand falls due to improved insulation and low-carbon heating systems, the relative importance of other electrical loads inside the home increases.
Appliances are a persistent source of home energy consumption
The Energy Saving Trust highlights refrigeration and cleaning appliances, including washing machines, tumble dryers, and dishwashers, as a significant category of household energy consumption.
Yet appliance energy use is not regulated through building design standards in the same way as building fabric or fixed heating systems are. Part of the reason is structural. Unlike heating systems, which can be assessed as a single category, appliances span multiple product types, each requiring a separate regulatory approach. Their energy impact also depends heavily on how consumers use them – whether eco modes are activated, how full the drum is, and how often the machine runs. That variability makes them harder to standardise within a building design framework, unlike a heat pump or boiler.
Appliance energy efficiency is primarily shaped by product regulation and product replacement cycles – rather than building compliance requirements. That means efficiency gains arrive gradually, through market turnover, rather than being fully determined at the point of construction. For housebuilders, the practical result is that appliance specification rarely receives the same scrutiny as materials or heating systems, even though the appliances inside the home directly shape how the home performs once occupied.
Moreover, while the energy savings from installing higher efficiency appliances at the point of construction are not guaranteed over the lifetime of a building, doing so can positively influence future replacement choices. When the time comes to replace an appliance, homeowners are more likely to maintain or improve on the standard they are used to.
Consumers expect energy efficient homes
Energy efficiency has moved from a sustainability concern to an affordability concern. For buyers, running costs are now as likely to drive appliance decisions as environmental concerns. Beko’s Smart Living Index, a study of 6,000 consumers across 12 countries, found that energy costs are now the leading concern in eight of the 12 markets surveyed, while more than 75% of consumers said they had changed how they purchase appliances in the last year. The research also points to a broader shift in how households think about and manage home energy use in practice. In the UK, one in three consumers reported limiting appliance use to manage rising bills, with 58% hand washing dishes because they believe it reduces energy costs in the home.
These findings point to something important: consumers are trying to act on energy costs but are not always well informed about where the savings actually are. Hand washing dishes is, in most cases, less energy efficient than a modern dishwasher running on an eco-cycle. For housebuilders, this gap between perception and reality represents an opportunity. Buyers are now weighing running costs alongside price, location and EPC ratings – and specifying efficient appliances, alongside clear guidance on how to use them, is part of the wider value proposition of a home.
A more integrated approach to low-carbon homes
The direction of travel is clear. Building standards are tightening, appliance regulations are rising, and buyers are paying ever closer attention to running costs and the real-world performance of the homes they buy. These may appear to be separate trends, but they point to the same conclusion: the energy performance of a home is increasingly defined by everything inside it, not just how it is built.
Appliances are not directly regulated under the Future Homes Standard, and the complexity of bringing them in scope is real. But that does not mean housebuilders have no role to play. Specifying more efficient products and helping buyers understand how to use them efficiently are practical steps that sit within reach of every development team, regardless of where regulation lands.
Housebuilders who treat appliance specification as part of the performance story of a home and ensure buyers know how to get the most from them are better placed to meet buyer expectations, manage reputational risk, and deliver homes that genuinely perform in use, not just on paper.