Heating homes (post-war to today)
Reading: Cold and expensive v hot, cheap and eco-friendly: the contrasting histories of home heating in the UK and Sweden, The Conversation, 16 February 2026.
A longish read, describing the 1940s fork in the path that took Sweden and the UK in different directions for heating homes.
Post-war in the UK, the focus was on the formation of the NHS, but the harms of smog from coal burning triggered the search for a different form of heating. The discovery of North Sea gas gave a solution:
A huge achievement, and a much better life for so many.Between 1968 and 1976, around 13 million UK homes (of a total of about 15 million) were made ready for connection to the gas network. The cost of converting domestic heating and cooking systems from coal to gas was largely borne by the national gas supplier, making it effectively free to most households.
Sweden took a different route, focusing on quality housing to improve lives. District heating was part of the solution for home building:
Upon its introduction, district heating was celebrated for its efficiency, affordability for households (especially when combined with the warm rent policy), and flexibility – it is easy to change the fuel source
Heat pumps started to take hold as a status symbol, and due to environmental and cost concerns. Since then, "heat pumps have seen exponential growth since the 1990s [...] with over a third of homes equipped with them." For comparison, 3/4 of UK homes are gas heated.
There's lots of great detail in the article, around home temperatures and incentivising landlords to improve energy efficiency. Worth a read if you like this sort of thing.