Insulation is not sexy, but it keeps the bills down

Every year for the next 40 years, half a million UK homes will need extra insulation, new windows and other energy saving features if we are to fight climate change and fuel poverty. The vast majority of our homes were built decades, if not centuries, ago and leak hot air. Eight-five per cent of these draughty, leaky homes will still be standing in 2050, by which date we must have cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent.

He says the average cost of green-refurbishing a home will be £20,000-£25,000, a large sum but far less than building from scratch.

"Despite all the talk about new homes being 'zero carbon' by 2016, the main focus of reducing emissions from the housing sector will have to be on existing homes," says Andrew Warren, a member of Existing Homes Alliance. "Three million people already struggle with fuel bills, spending more than 10 per cent of their disposable income on keeping warm.


"With fuel costs rising, more people will be in fuel poverty by the winter. Simply raising cold weather payments is not tackling the cause.

"What we need is a properly funded Government refurbishment programme to insulate the nation's homes."

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