Today the Energy Saving Trust is highlighting that in order to meet the Government’s home refurbishment target of 7 million homes*, 13,400 homes per week will need to have whole house makeovers by 2020. This refurbishment work would consist of upgrading the basic insulation of a home, and then adding other measures such as water efficiency measures, advanced insulation or microgeneration.
This information comes as the Energy Saving Trust plans to launch its new Sustainable Refurbishment guide at “Ecobuild”, Earls Court 2nd – 4th March 2010. The guide will assist the housing industry to take a whole house approach to upgrading the energy performance of existing homes. The guide will show how to achieve an ambitious 80% reduction in carbon emissions from a range of different homes: applying home improvements that go well beyond those required in current building regulations.
Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving Trust commented: “With the Government’s 2016 zero carbon homes policy we have a clear trajectory to achieving very low carbon new homes in England. We need a similar roadmap towards a low carbon existing housing stock – laying out a set of standards that we expect our homes to reach in 2015, 2020, 2030 and 2050. Our refurbishment guidance is an important contribution to developing that roadmap – showing how different types of homes can reach an ambitious 80% carbon reduction target. A government existing homes roadmap will give an incentive for homeowners to invest in home improvements and a clear signal to builders and installers to train staff to be able to deliver the energy and carbon saving measures.”
The scale of the challenge
There is a lot to undertake to reach these targets, such as:
· There are still an estimated 6 million homes that need cavity wall insulation – nearly a quarter of all UK homes
· There are an estimated 13 million homes that need more loft insulation – in other words, half of all UK homes.
- Insulating these would save nearly 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.
The Energy Saving Trust, a lead sponsor at Ecobuild, is one of the leading organisations providing technical advice to trade about refurbishing homes or constructing new build homes to the highest energy performance standards. Ecobuild is free to visit and attendees can visit the Energy Saving Trust stand (number 1948) to pick up their free copy of the Sustainable Refurbishment guide.
During the Ecobuild there will be talks and discussions from:
Tuesday 2nd March
· Chief Executive Philip Sellwood debating, - ‘A strategy for energy: save it or de-carbonise it?’
· Mat Colmer Head of Housing discussing, - ‘Monitoring and Feedback’
· Rob Lewis Strategy Manager for renewable energy, - ‘Getting the most from FiT: implementation solutions’
Wednesday 3rd March
· David Weatherall, Strategy Manager for housing, - ‘Solid wall insulation: achieving mass uptake’
· Mat Colmer, Head of Housing and Supply Chain, - ‘Refurbishing Britain – Sheffield Eco-terrace project’
Thursday 4th March
· Jaryn Bradford, Renewables Development Manager, - ‘Location, location, location’.
If you would like to hear more about the Energy Saving Trust technical guidance and practical examples for future projects then come visit the stand (number 1948) at Ecobuild from 2nd – 4th March at Earls Court. Entrance is free by registering at www.ecobuild.co.uk or to find out more about how the Energy Saving Trust can help you visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/housing.
End