Building new homes that fail to live up to energy efficiency standards is an “invisible cheat” which costs homeowners money and hits climate efforts, Government advisers warn. UK homes are not fit for the future, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said in a report, with stalling efforts to cut greenhouse gases from housing, and properties at growing risk of overheating and flooding. The committee called on the Government to get serious on tackling emissions from homes and making sure they are adapted to cope with a future of more heatwaves, droughts and floods. The way new homes are built and existing properties are “retrofitted” with energy efficiency measures often falls short of stated design standards, deceiving householders and inflicting costs on the future, the committee said.
Energy Voice 21st Feb 2019 read more »
Greenhouse gas emissions from your heating boiler are fuelling climate change, a report by MPs has said. UK government advisers warn that emissions from housing have actually gone up last year. This is despite attempts to drive down emissions from the housing sector. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report says that all homes in future will have to virtually eliminate emissions from home heating to meet climate targets. The government said it’s committed to investing £6bn to improve the energy efficiency of lower income and vulnerable households in a decade. Some 14% of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from our homes, but little’s being done to reduce them. The committee’s spokesperson Prof Julia King told us: “This generation of home-owners is cheating its children by leaving homes which are completely inadequate for an age of climate change. “They’re too cold in winter and increasingly, as the climate continues to warm, they are going to become too hot in the summer.” What’s more, she said, many new homes don’t even meet building standards because they are poorly constructed. “These poorly-built new homes are going to need to be retro-fitted (re-insulated) 10-15 years down the line. It’s a total waste of money because retro-fitting is 4-5 times more expensive than building it properly in the first place. “This is a scandal comparable to the VW emissions scandal. Lots of people are paying far more on their gas bills than they ought to be because their new homes are poorly built.”
BBC 21st Feb 2019 read more »
