Campaign calls for action on energy efficiency in the home

A campaign fronted by TV designer Kevin McCloud is calling for Government to take the financial sting out of installing better insulation and other measures to improve the environmental performance of existing homes.


The logic behind the Great British Refurb campaign is simple – while a raft of regulations and incentives are in place to encourage greener new build, not enough is being done to persuade home owners to improve the energy efficiency of existing flats and houses.

The campaign will be officially launched later this week at the Grand Designs Live show in London, but the ‘soft luanch’ took place this week with the release of a website asking the public to sign a petition to Gordon Brown calling on government to do more in this area.

The petition asks Government to offer households new ways to pay for green refurbishment, which would significantly reduce upfront costs and instead spread them over a longer period of time.

It also asks for better financial incentives for householders to refurbish their homes to make them greener and more energy efficient, through substantial government grants, subsidies or tax rebates.

Its final demand is to ensure installers are qualified and approved to undertake the work.

In a statement on the website Mr McCloud said: “There are more than 26 millions homes in Britain, most of which are intensely inefficient, leak heat and cost a fortune to run.

“They also account for around 27% of the country’s man-made carbon dioxide.

“The Government wants to have reduced our carbon output by 80% by 2050, which, given that the majority of these 26 million homes will still be standing, is a hopelessly unrealistic target, unless we can improve their eco-credentials.”

Mr McCloud and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, will be discussing government plans for energy efficiency at Grand Designs Live this Thursday.

Sam Bond

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