Homes carbon cutting potential - report

Residential energy saving measures could cut millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and save householders billions in fuel bills, a new Government report has shown this week. The initial report from the Review of the Sustainability of Existing Buildings found that practices as simple as cavity wall insulation could help contribute to the green benefits if implemented on a widespread basis.

Up to 7m tonnes of carbon per year could be saved from household emissions by introducing measures with the ‘fastest payback’ such as cavity wall insulation and boiler replacement, states the research.

“This research suggests our existing homes and buildings could offer some of the most cost effective ways to cut our national emissions over the next few years. After all, many of the measures needed to cut carbon from our homes also help cut our fuel bills as well,” commented Yvette Cooper, Housing and Planning Minister, in a speech to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change.

“To make the difference we need by 2050 we will need radical changes to the way we heat and power our existing homes as well as new ones. Whether it be turf on the roof, wind turbines in the garden, heat pumps below the basement or micro CHP boilers, the homes of the future will need to be powered in a completely different way. And we need to develop the technology to support our Victorian terraces and sixties tower blocks as well as our modern new homes,” added the Minister.