‘Milton Keynes: Energy Capital UK?’ A Film by Living Archive.
This article was written by Sava Managing Director, Austin Baggett.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Professor Jake Chapman’s 1975 book, Fuel’s Paradise: Energy Options for Britain. This article introduces the definitive story of how his work created the national standards for energy efficiency, captured in a 2025 film by Living Archive. Jake was the founder of the organisation that went on to become Sava, cementing an intrinsic link between the organisation, his pioneering achievements, and the City of Milton Keynes, which remains the base for Sava’s headquarters.
About the Film
Milton Keynes: Energy Capital UK? tells the story of how a collaboration between the Open University and the Milton Keynes Development Corporation in the 1970s transformed the way Britain builds and measures its homes. Led by physicist Jake Chapman and architect John Doggart, the partnership turned radical ideas into practical action — from experimental solar houses to monitored housing estates that proved insulation and efficient boilers could halve energy bills for just a small extra cost.
The film charts the rise of demonstration projects like Homeworld ’81 and Energy World, where the public could walk through low-energy homes decades ahead of their time. It follows the creation of energy rating software, which won trust by showing households that its predictions matched their bills, and which evolved into the National Home Energy Rating Scheme and the Energy Performance Certificate — now a cornerstone of UK housing policy. The story reveals the importance of measurement, trust, and patience: evidence persuaded regulators, exhibitions captured the public imagination, and change happened slowly enough for builders and politicians to adapt.
This is the legacy of Jake Chapman and his collaborators: a vision of energy efficiency that started with local experiments and grew into national policy, shaping the homes we live in and the way we confront climate change today.
The film was made exactly 50 years after the publication of Jake’s groundbreaking book, Fuel’s Paradise: Energy Options for Britain, published by Penguin in 1975.
Six Lessons from the Film
Lesson #1: Collaboration Breaks Boundaries
Innovation happens when research meets practice. In Milton Keynes, academics and developers worked side by side to create lasting change.
The collaboration between the Open University and the Milton Keynes Development Corporation was unusual in the 1970s. Academics were expected to theorise; developers to build. But when Jake Chapman and John Doggart worked side by side, research shaped practice and practice sharpened research. This synergy led to new housing estates designed for energy efficiency and monitored in detail. The lesson is enduring: knowledge only reaches its potential when tested in the real world, and practical projects achieve more when grounded in rigorous evidence. Collaboration across boundaries is where breakthroughs begin.
Lesson #2: Evidence Earns Confidence
Trust is built when data proves what works. Careful monitoring gave regulators and governments the courage to act.
At Pennyland and Great Linford in Milton Keynes, two housing estates were built side by side. One followed standard regulations; the other added insulation, passive solar design, and efficient boilers. Careful monitoring revealed the truth: for just £200 extra, households could halve their fuel bills. The much promoted passive solar interventions had little impact— net curtains blocked most of the gain. It was insulation and efficient boilers that made the difference. These findings, grounded in real data, forced regulators and researchers to pay attention. The lesson is clear: only when interventions are measured can people believe them, replicate them, and legislate for them.
Lesson #3: Show, Don’t Just Tell
Public demonstrations carry ideas further than reports. Exhibitions like Homeworld ’81 and Energy World made energy efficiency visible and desirable.
More than 50 exemplar low-energy homes were built and displayed in Milton Keynes through Homeworld ’81, Energy World, and Future World. These exhibitions brought new technologies — double glazing, low-energy lighting, solar panels — to life for the public, developers, and policymakers. They weren’t just architectural showcases; they were acts of persuasion. Seeing, walking through, and living in efficient homes gave people confidence that change was practical, not just theoretical. The lesson is that data convinces experts, but public demonstration convinces everyone else.
Lesson #4: Let People Discover for Themselves
Telling people what to do rarely works. Give them tools to learn — then change follows naturally.
For years, Jake and colleagues urged architects to adopt better insulation and efficient heating. Few listened. But when architects began using Jake’s software to model running costs, they discovered for themselves which measures mattered most — and quickly adopted them. This was transformative: once people “own” the insight, it sticks.
Image left: Fuel’s Paradise, published 1975 | Image right: Professor Jake Chapman
Lesson #5: Go Slow to Go Far
Lasting change cannot be rushed. Builders, politicians, and systems need time to adapt, or reforms will collapse.
The film is clear that regulation could not leap ahead overnight. If the government had suddenly mandated cavity wall insulation, double glazing, and loft standards, builders would not have had the skills to deliver. Jake Chapman stressed that retraining an entire workforce for sustainable change takes decades, not years.
Lesson #6: From Local Trials to National Policy
Big policies start small. Milton Keynes’ local experiments grew into the national tools that define housing today.
What began as experiments on single estates and demonstration houses in Milton Keynes became the foundation for national standards. The data gathered there underpinned the creation of the National Home Energy Rating and, eventually, the Energy Performance Certificate. These tools are now embedded in UK policy, shaping everything from fuel poverty targets to the government’s ambition to raise all homes to EPC band C by 2035. The lesson is that national policy is rarely born in committee rooms alone; it often begins with carefully monitored, well-publicised local projects that prove what is possible.
5 Additional Lessons That We’ve Learnt
Lesson #7: Expect Pushback, and Counteract
Change threatens powerful interests, and they fight back. Acknowledging this resistance is the first step to overcoming it.
Whenever energy efficiency gains ground, entrenched industries with stranded assets push back. The film showed how builders resisted regulation; today, fossil fuel and carbon-heavy sectors deploy misinformation, lobbying, and media campaigns to delay change. Pretending this resistance doesn’t exist leaves reformers vulnerable. Instead, we must plan for it and find ways to minimise its impact — whether through transparency, regulation, or stronger coalitions. Social and political strategies are needed to counter deliberate obstruction and misinformation from those who stand to lose.
Lesson #8: Don’t Forget the Old Homes
The biggest gains lie in existing buildings, not just new ones. Retrofitting is where deep carbon saving will be made.
The Milton Keynes story was largely about new towns, where old housing stock was mostly absent. But across the UK, most carbon comes from existing homes, many built with poor insulation and inefficient heating. By 2050, retrofitting these homes could deliver 15 to 20 times more carbon savings than net-zero policies for new builds. Yet policy still leans heavily toward regulating the future rather than fixing the past. The lesson: focus where the emissions are. Transforming old housing stock is harder, less glamorous, but far more important than designing perfect new buildings.
Lesson #9: Belief Comes Slowly and is Fragile
Climate beliefs are shallow and easily diverted. The challenge is creating urgency without waiting decades for conviction to form.
Jake observed that belief takes time, but time is what we no longer have. Climate urgency competes with everyday distractions, and many people hold weak, reversible convictions about the crisis. That’s why take-up of solutions remains slow, even as risks accelerate. The question is whether accelerators exist — wartime governance, emergency mandates, or removing systemic barriers that slow adoption. We must find faster ways to anchor conviction and speed action before the tipping points of climate change are breached.
Lesson #10: Speak the Public’s Language and use Metrics that Resonate
Metrics matter only if people understand them. Science must translate its numbers into measures that resonate emotionally.
The science community relies on metrics like “1.5°C warming,” but for most people, that means little. After all, many choose holidays in climates warmer than that. To build support, climate communication must use measures that connect to daily life: energy bills, flood risk, food prices, health. The same lesson applied in Milton Keynes, where householders trusted software only when it reflected their real fuel bills. If numbers don’t resonate, they won’t persuade. The task is to create metrics that ordinary people feel, not just read, making climate change real rather than abstract.
Lesson #11: Stories Need Villains
Every story needs a villain, and climate change lacks a face. Without a visible villain, public narratives fail to grip.
Climate change stories too often rely on abstract forces: carbon, temperature, the “planet.” For action to resonate, climate narratives must sharpen — naming obstacles, highlighting those who profit from delay, and making consequences visible. The lesson: stories, not statistics, move societies. Until the climate story has both heroes and villains, it will struggle to command the urgency it deserves.
The story written by Jake Chapman and his colleagues reminds us that real progress begins with curiosity, collaboration, and patience — lessons that are as vital now as they were fifty years ago. From one town’s experiments came a national legacy. The challenge now is to apply the same persistence and imagination to the energy transition still ahead.