Act fast, say climate experts

Climate change experts have called on the UK government to introduce tighter energy regulations for homes to help the UK meet its environmental targets.

Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research call is made in a research report The 40% House, published on 23 March.

The report claims that action to cut energy use in British Homes needs to be taken now if the government is to meet the 60% cut in CO2 emissions called for by 2050 in the energy white paper.

The researchers call on the government to introduce “powerful regulation” to save energy in existing homes, to enforce “more rigorous” Building Regulations for new homes and to transform the domestic market to ensure heating, lighting and appliances are energy efficient.

The report also calls for poor quality housing stock to be demolished and replaced. It urges the government to remove 14% of the worst stock and calls for demolition rates to be quadrupled over the next 10 years.

The report states: “The current demolition rate needs to be increased fourfold, targeted at the most inefficient and unhealthy homes.”

To meet the government targets, the researchers have suggested a series of initiatives they claim will reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 40% of 1996 levels.

The suggested initiatives include: increasing the standard of new homes so that they do not require heating; cutting electricity consumption for lights by half to 1680 kWh per household by 2050; and investing in low carbon technologies such as photovoltaics and combined heat and power to ensure their continued development.

The researchers estimate that these technologies could provide up to 81% of space and water heating and all of the electricity used in the home by the year 2050.

Dwellings account for 28% of the United Kingdom’s total carbon dioxide emissions. The proportion of energy used in homes breaks down approximately: 57% for heating, 25% for water heating, 5% for cooking and 13% for lighting and other appliances.