A study by the Economic and Social Research Council has said making existing homes energy efficient was a ‘herculean’ task and required radical action to bring about a 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. The research calculated that to reduce emissions from existing homes by 40 per cent would require work to
The public strongly supports the government’s plans to ‘decarbonise’ the nation’s housing stock according to research by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Researchers found householders are willing to ‘play their part’ in tackling climate change, and under the Great British Refurb plans, at least 7 million homes by 2020 and every home by
The European parliament has voted to allow VAT on housing repairs and maintenance to be cut to at least 5 per cent. MEPs hope that member states will introduce the cuts to revitalise struggling industries such as construction and increase work to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has said that government targets to make all new homes zero carbon by 2016 are not realistic. RICS said the government will struggle to meet its target, as building zero carbon homes is currently too expensive, but a 70 per cent reduction could be achievable through building energy