The initial report from the Review of the Sustainability of Existing Buildings shows that millions of homes across the country could benefit from cost effective improvements which cut both carbon emissions and fuel bills. Widespread implementation of such improvements could save around 7M tonnes of carbon a year.

KEY POINTS

• implementing measures with the fastest pay back and replacing boilers over time could save 7MtC a year and make householders better off;
• cavity wall insulation has increased from 20 per cent of our housing stock in 1996 to 36 per cent in 2003;
• the number of homes with over 150mm of loft insulation increased by 4 million between 2001 and 2004;
• a further 8.5m homes could benefit from cavity wall insulation saving 2.1MtC a year;
• cavity wall insulation typically costs £340 to fit and pays for itself within 2.6 years. (Over a 5 year period householders would get a 200 per cent return on their investment).  In practice, these costs and the payback period can be reduced through grants and subsidies, with some householders, on qualifying benefits, being eligible for free installation;
• increasing loft insulation could help 6.1m homes and deliver carbon savings of 1.2m a year. Pay back time for loft insulation is 2.7 years and householders get a 180 per cent return over 5 years. Again grants and subsidies are available;
• reaching the 60 per cent target by 2050 will require high take up of microgeneration including emerging technologies such as heat pumps and micro CHP (combined heat and power);
• research suggests that costs of low and zero carbon technologies could be reduced significantly for each doubling of installed capacity; and
• social housing is on average more energy efficient than private housing.

The full report is available from the UK Department of Communities and Local Government at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/373/TheEnergyEfficiencyofDwellingsInitialAnalysis_id1504373.pdf