Local authorities are being warned that urgent action is needed to curb carbon dioxide emissions from UK homes.

The message comes from the Energy Saving Trust and follows research which claims that UK homes are set to waste 750 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020, due to excess use of energy.

“With energy used in homes in the UK accounting for over 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, reducing these emissions from the nations three million local authority homes must be a priority for any local authority,” says Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust. “Developing and implementing a sustainable energy strategy can go a long way to helping them achieve this.”

The Trust is suggesting three steps to implement this.

Its first suggestion is to develop a housing energy strategy that takes into account policy structure, legislation, benefits of energy efficiency and investment and funding options. Second, is to build a housing energy management matrix to help assess the current energy efficiency levels of housing stock, set targets and monitor progress. The third step is to offer energy advice to staff and tenants.

Source

Building Sustainable Design