Simon Bones is the CEO of Genous, dedicated to streamlining home retrofits and renewable installations. With a background in climate research and practical experience in property retrofitting, he founded Genous to address the developing industry. Under his leadership, the company offers comprehensive solutions like heat pumps, solar PV, and smart tech, aiming to make sustainable living accessible and efficient for homeowners.

We were thrilled to catch up with Simon about the state of the home energy sector, and how he thinks we can expand the use of sustainable tech. 

Could you tell us about your sustainability journey: what led you to work in this space?

I’ve been interested in climate change academically since the mid-2000s and since then I’ve done a post-graduate degree and am now a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Bristol, specialising in the link between incomes and emissions. But I’ve also retrofitted several properties and have been frustrated by both the information provision and the quality of service in the sector. So it was obvious that I’d move into something that solved a real problem in an area that is critically important to climate change; if we can’t fix our homes, where we can become more sustainable without impacting quality-of-life (albeit at a cost), then we won’t be able to help anywhere.

How do you see EVs, heat pumps, and solar PV coming together?

For the average household, home electricity, home heating and vehicles represent a quarter of their total emissions, so they’re big things to target. But they’re also linked. If I generate electrical power from the sun and my car and heating system also run on electricity then there’s an opportunity to run those things together and to generate big synergies. Because EPCs don’t consider vehicles, and the companies targeting homes and cars are often different, it’s easy to forget that the best way to make an EV affordable to run is to charge it at home (and yes, I know, not everyone has off-street-parking and the ability to home-charge!). So putting in a heat pump or PV is great, but put those together and throw an EV charger in and you can really change the returns and the carbon savings.

What is Genous, and how does it work?

We know most people are struggling to work our where to go and what to do when its comes to the best energy efficiency solutions for their homes. So we are on a mission to become the UKs most trusted and easiest brand to deal with for customers for “all things” to do with retrofit and renewables installation. Although we have unrivalled advisory technology, we also have the best industry people on hand to guide our customers through every stage of the process.

From initial quote, the survey and final installation start to finish – we take care of everything so our customers can get on with the other things in their lives. That means we can help people understand what to do and get it done for them, wherever they are, whatever their options and priorities. And because we focus on what the customer wants rather than what we want to sell, they tell us we are a breath of fresh air in the industry.

You provide end-to-end retrofitting advice and delivery, what tech do you work with?

We look at insulation (cavity and to a lesser extent solid wall, loft and roof room, and floor), draughtproofing, performance glazing, heat pumps (predominantly air source, because for the vast majority of households we think that’s the right option), underfloor heating, solar PV (not thermal!) and batteries, heating controls, EV chargers and smart tech (controls and cylinders). There’s lots we don’t do but we’ve thought hard about what is proven to work and picked the best examples, as we think it’s better to use the best examples of the best technologies than to offer anything and everything, or too narrow a product range.

How smart are heat pumps, solar, batteries and EV charging at the moment?

All these technologies work in their own right, and even a relatively simple set-up can bring big benefits – return on investment as well as carbon savings – without really sophisticated tech to manage it. I think it’s fair to say that that technology and controls to manage an electrified home is not as developed as we’d like it to be, but that just means there will be even more upside when that all works seamlessly. And the people who crack it (we’re not in that space, so this isn’t a plug for us!) will do really well, and deserve to do so.

With a rapidly developing market, how do you ensure you’re delivering the tech that works best?

Home retrofit will, of course improve as products innovate, but it’s really important to know that this works already. This isn’t an area where we need a major new development for it to be viable; the retrofits we advise on regularly put forward double-digit post-tax annual returns, using proven technology that is suitable for UK homes. Rogue installers and vested interests do muddy the waters, but we have the tools we need to sort our housing stock already – further innovation will just make it more compelling.

Do you exclusively work with individual buyers, and why?

We work with a Top 5 high-street bank, a Top 5 building society and with architects and other home-move specialists to help their respective customers. But ultimately our customer is the household and, whether they come to us directly or through partners, what they want is a tailored individual solution that fits their needs. Most big buyers (social landlords, local authorities, developers) are much less sophisticated in their purchasing than people buying things for their own homes, so we tend not to focus there, though we’re always happy to have a conversation with the more forward thinking ones!

What is the medium and long-term future for UK heat pump roll out?

At the moment, most people still don’t know what a heat pump is, and they’ve probably never seen one. So our customers today tend to be those who are prepared to embrace new technology, who have reasonable funding and who understand that the investment in the right heat pump will give a good financial return. The key change we need to see for this to become mainstream, aside from more awareness and fewer fossil fuel companies trying to scaremonger, is for lenders to make it easier for people to borrow, particularly against their own properties, to upgrade; retrofit can boost affordability and improve comfort and reduce emissions all at the same time. There aren’t many real ‘win-wins’ in personal finance, but this can resolutely be one of them!

Thanks to Simon for his fantastic insights into the sustainable living world. Make sure to check out the Genous Home Check now to see how you could cut carbon in your own house.