The government today set out its vision for reducing carbon emissions from the UK's homes, unveiling wide-ranging plans designed to accelerate the rollout of energy efficiency measures, improve householders access to green loans and subsidies and provide a major boost to the emerging green home improvement sector.
The 52-page Warm Homes, Greener Homes strategy sets a series of energy efficiency targets, including commitments to cut carbon emissions from UK homes by 29 per cent by 2020, primarily through the rollout of up to seven million "eco upgrades".
It also outlines a wide range of new proposals designed to ensure the targets are met and replace existing domestic energy efficiency schemes when they expire in 2012.
Central to the new strategy is a proposed change to legislation that would allow banks and energy companies to provide green loans that are secured against the building rather than the individual taking out the loan.
Adoption of loans for green home improvements is not without its problems. Making monthly repayments low enough to ensure they do not negate energy bill savings would spread it over such a long period that the recipient is likely to have moved house before the loan is paid off.
The Pay As You Save (PAYS) scheme – which was first announced last year and has been trialed by around 500 homes in Birmingham, Sunderland, Stroud and the London borough of Sutton – would tackle the problem by attaching the loan to the building. As a result, the original recipient would be able to move house knowing the loan would be passed on to the next resident, who will similarly be able to make repayments using the money saved through reduced energy bills.
The government said it would further support the scheme by working with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to help ensure that the energy performance of a home is better reflected in its market value.
"The Warm Homes, Greener Homes Strategy will remove the deterrent of upfront costs and reduce the hassle of the move to greener living," said energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband. "Making homes more energy efficient will help protect people from upward pressure on bills, tackle climate change, and make us less reliant on imported energy."
The flagship financing scheme will be launched alongside a new one-stop-shop green home advice line and a new legal obligation for energy companies to replace the existing Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT).
Under the new obligation, energy companies will from 2013 be legally required to consult with local authorities and ensure that their energy efficiency plans are in line with those proposed by councils. The move is intended to help accelerate the rollout of insulation and other energy efficiency measures, by allowing councils to organise a street-by-street makeover that can improve the efficiency of whole streets at a time.
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