The 99% campaign - greening the stock we're stuck with

The control of carbon dioxide emissions is arguably the most pressing issue facing Britain today. This means that it's also the most pressing issue facing Britain's construction industry. Each year, 300 million tonnes of CO2 are produced as a by-product of heating and powering buildings in the UK. That's equivalent to putting another 100 million cars on the road, or doubling the country's industrial base.

It doesn't have to be like this. The built environment is lavishly oversupplied with energy, most of which it squanders. Heat is lost through uninsulated roofs, floors and cavity walls. It escapes through ill-fitting doors, draughty single-glazed windows and inefficient double-glazed units. It is wasted by obsolete boilers with unlagged pipes and crude controls. The European commission estimates that improving insulation alone would more than halve the amount of fossil fuels that need to be burned to heat and cool our buildings - and that's before we even begin to consider the role of retrofitted technology such as solar heating, or high-efficiency generation systems such as local networks of combined heat and power plants.

In the past four years, the government has used the Building Regulations to increase the energy efficiency of new buildings: anything built in 2006 is 40% more energy efficient than in 2002. But improving new build by ratcheting up Part L is like trying to turn around a supertanker by sticking your arm in the water. One year's new-build represents between 1% and 1.5% of our total stock. That leaves as much as 99% of the problem intact in the first year. By the time we get to 2050, 60% of Britain's buildings will still predate this year's revision to Part L, and 40% will have been constructed before the introduction of Part L in 1985.

Another reason that the government has preferred to tackle new-build is that it is an easier nut to crack: regulation is a form of direct control. Not so refurbishment. As Charles Macdonald, buildings strategy manager at the Carbon Trust, points out, "With refurbishment there is a need for market mechanisms to drive emissions reduction".

What's more, there is less political kudos to be gained. Bill Gething, the RIBA's sustainability expert and a partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley, says: "The government has steered clear of the existing stock so far because it's much more difficult, and less sexy, than new-build. But tackling the buildings we have now is crucial if we are going to make a change."

It's true that the government has begun to tackle the problem. Energy performance certificates, announced earlier this month, will be required for all building types by law in early 2007. For residential, they will form part of the Home Information Packs. But, although the industry supports this move, it has become frustrated by the slow progress and lack of detail. It needs clear and consistent information, such as a timetable for implementation, if it is to get to grips with its massive task.

That's why we've launched this campaign to find the fastest, best organised ways of improving our existing stock. And to do so, we will be opening the pages of the magazine to our readers. We want to hear your thoughts on how the government and industry should tackle this immense problem. We need your technical advice on the best way to improve everything from council sports centres to City offices to bungalows in Stoke-on-Trent. And we will be looking at what carrots and sticks we have available to persuade owners and tenants to undertake energy improvements, be they business tax breaks, government grants, variations in the council tax or Blue Peter badges.

A host of politicians, industry figures and organisations have already signed up for our 99% Campaign, including Sir Stuart Lipton, Phyllis Starkey MP (chair of the Department for Communities and Local Government select committee), Sir Neville Simms, Peter Rogers, the Construction Products Association, the RICS and the RIBA.