Conclusions and recommendations
1. The
amount of energy we use to heat and light our homes now needs
to decline, and sharply, if carbon emission reductions from the
housing stock are to contribute towards the 60 per cent reduction
in emissions by 2050 to which the United Kingdom is committed.
(Paragraph 4)
2. There
is clear consensus that the Government needs to engage as fully
with reducing carbon emissions from the existing housing stock
as it has with reducing those from new development.
(Paragraph 7)
3. The
Government's understandable desire to build improvements into
future housing has led it to give insufficient priority to action
on the vast bulk of the housing stock represented by the 23 million
homes already there in England and Wales. A much clearer focus
on what must be done to bring existing housing up to required
energy efficiency standards is essential.
(Paragraph 9)
4. We
recommend that the Government measure the impact of including
in the Building Regulations consequential improvements provision
affecting homeowners in time to inform the next Building Regulations
review. (Paragraph 15)
5. We
urge the Government to follow the lead set by Uttlesford District
Council in requiring homeowners who extend their homes to make
consequential improvements to the rest of their property as part
of the planning consent process. We recommend that Part L of the
Building Regulations be amended to require householders making
substantial improvements, such as building an extension, to ensure
that the carbon footprint of their improved home is at least no
greater than before. (Paragraph 16)
6. Following
the successful introduction of the Code for Sustainable Homes,
we recommend that the Government produce as a matter of urgency
a similar Code for Existing Homes. We further recommend that
that Code contain minimum performance standards, perhaps based
on Standard Assessment Procedure ratings. These standards should
apply to all housing stock, although differential ratings may
be acceptable in the short to medium term, but no later than 2016,
for social housing, privately rented stock and owner-occupied
homes, all of which begin from different baselines. A separate
standard might also be set, in the short to mid term, for housing
constructed before 1919, which is currently the least energy efficient,
but often most prized, in the United Kingdom.
(Paragraph 19)
7. We
recommend that the Government include specific energy performance
improvement standards in any social housing improvement programme
that follows Decent Homes in 2010. In particular, we recommend
that any future programme contain a specific minimum, rather than
average, Standard Assessment Procedure target for all social housing.
We seek the Government's view on the Local Government Association's
suggestion that that minimum SAP rating should be 65.
(Paragraph 26)
8. We
recommend that as part of the Government's review of the maximum
grant available under Warm Front limited flexibility be introduced
into the scheme to allow the maximum level of £2,700 to be
disregarded in cases where the most vulnerable households would
not receive sufficient assistance to heat their homes adequately
and as efficiently as possible. (Paragraph
28)
9. The
Government should loosen restrictions on Warm Front eligibility
to allow tenants living in HMOs to have works done on their homes.
(Paragraph 30)
10. While
it is to be hoped that the supplier obligation to be established
for the period from 2011 to 2020 may be able to concentrate more
fully on carbon reductions alone, the significant rise since 2003
in the number of households spending more than a tenth of their
income on heating their homes justifies the continued inclusion
of fuel poverty reduction aspirations within the three-year Carbon
Emissions Reduction Target being set in 2008.
(Paragraph 40)
11. The
Government should take every step possible, including amending
the Data Protection Act if required, to ensure that local authorities
may use the information they hold to target households likely
to be suffering from fuel poverty. It should also consider whether
provision of data to appropriate third parties for the same purpose
may be desirable and achievable. (Paragraph
42)
12. We
recommend that the Government consider introducing a new Code
for Existing Homes. This could set a minimum energy performance
standard for privately rented housing, aimed, in the short term,
at improving the sector's overall energy performance to at least
the significantly higher level achieved in the socially rented
sector, and in the long term at delivering the kind of carbon
reduction necessary if the national 60 per cent reduction by 2050
is to be achieved. The Government should also consider ways in
which it might be possible to enforce such a Code, such as introducing
it for Houses in Multiple Occupation or through the private sector
licensing system. (Paragraph 44)
13. We
recommend that the Government seek to spread uptake of the Landlords
Energy Saving Allowance, as recommended nearly two years ago by
the Sustainable Development Commission. Information on the allowance
could be more widely disseminated to small landlords through letting
agencies and to all landlords via the landlord tenancy deposit
schemes run across England and Wales. (Paragraph
46)
14. A
range of witnesses have pointed out the perversity of differential
VAT rates that may in some circumstances make the demolition and
reconstruction of a home more financially attractive than its
refurbishment or renovation to a higher environmental standard.
We recommend that the Government seek to remove this anomaly.
(Paragraph 51)
15. We
commend Centrica's initiative in administering rebates through
council tax and urge other energy suppliers to follow suit. We
urge the Government to monitor the success of such schemes.
(Paragraph 52)
16. Having
recognised that stamp duty reductions or rebates can incentivise
energy efficiency improvement in new-build homes, the Government
should apply the same logic to existing homes. Once again, the
Government's emphasis on measures aimed at new development underestimates
the carbon reduction contribution required from the vast bulk
of the housing stock. We recommend the development of a scheme
to provide stamp duty rebates or reductions for all home-owners
who act on certain Energy Performance Certificate recommendations
within a year of moving in. (Paragraph 54)
17. Given
the urgency with which we need to respond to climate change, the
Government needs to find a means of disseminating Energy Performance
Certificates more rapidly than can be done purely through a mandatory
requirement at the point when a home is marketed for sale or for
rent. Further 'entry points' for EPCs might include, for example,
the points at which planning permission for major works is sought,
or at which works are carried out under programmes such as Warm
Front or the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target.
(Paragraph 59)
18. As
Energy Performance Certificates contain guidance, rather than
mandatory requirements for improvement works, the Government is
relying on a mixture of information and incentives to encourage
millions of householders to choose to make the improvements for
themselves. We recommend that the Government work closely with
the mortgage industry to provide market-based financial incentives,
such as 'green mortgages', that will encourage new homeowners
to undertake improvement projects within a short period of their
occupying their property. (Paragraph 61)
19. We
recommend that Energy Performance Certificate ratings be included
in all advertisements for houses for sale, as they are for fridges
and washing machines, so that prospective buyers may be aware
of them from the outset. (Paragraph 62)
20. We
recommend that the Government publish as soon as is practicable
research on the extent to which Energy Performance Certificates
are causing householders to undertake the works recommended within
six months or a year of moving into new homes. We recommend that
they publish as soon as possible the data gained from experience
among owners of larger homes since EPCs were introduced on a limited
basis in August 2007. (Paragraph 63)
21. We
welcome the use by the new Green Homes Service of the information
contained in posted Energy Performance Certificates to target
those whose homes are least energy efficient. This should help
householders themselves to reduce their fuel bills and improve
their living conditions while also contributing to overall carbon
emission reductions (Paragraph 64)
22. For
the longer term, we recommend that the Government commission research
into the idea of requiring householders to obtain a periodic energy
performance rating. (Paragraph 66)
23. Giving
householders information on what might be done to improve the
energy efficiency of their homes is only one half of the equation.
They also need to know who can do the works, and more importantly
given fears about costs, hassle and cowboy builders, who can be
trusted to do them cost-effectively and well. We recommend that
the Government set a mid-term goal for Energy Performance Certificates
to provide information on approved builders, installers and engineers.
(Paragraph 67)
24. We
recommend that the Government ensure private landlords, large
and small, are fully aware of the requirement to introduce Energy
Performance Certificates for properties marketed for rent from
October 2008, in order to avoid any lengthening of re-letting
periods at a time of housing shortage. We recommend that information
be disseminated, for example, through letting and estate agencies
and landlord tenancy deposit schemes. (Paragraph
68)
25. The
introduction of Energy Performance Certificates represents a substantial
leap forward in the provision of home energy efficiency information.
We encourage the Government to maintain the momentum likely to
be gained from this by seeking continuous improvement in the quality
of information provided to householders by EPCs.
(Paragraph 69)
26. The
single biggest difficulty in spreading energy efficiency measures
across the housing stock lies in engaging millions of individual
householders. Allied with this is the problem that actions taken
by individual householders are generally piecemeal and partial,
particular to their own homes. Given the economies of scale and
wider environmental benefits that may be achieved from a more
holistic approach, we recommend that the Government consult local
authorities on how area-based programmes for basic home improvements,
such as cavity wall or loft insulation, might be offered across
significant sections of the housing stock rather than, as at present,
in one home at a time, and thereby carried out more efficiently
and cost-effectively for households which wish to participate.
(Paragraph 70)
27. We
welcome the creation of the new Green Homes Service from April
2008 and urge the Government to support its rapid introduction
nationwide. The provision of a 'one-stop' source of information
for householders is a significant step towards overcoming the
'information barrier' to quick, simple and cost-effective action
in many homes. We urge the service to provide information on competent
suppliers and installers, and to monitor and report on the effectiveness
of the works carried out. We expect in the future to examine further
how the introduction of the service both widens information and
leads to real improvement in individual homes.
(Paragraph 77)
28. We
welcome the forthcoming introduction of smart meters along with
fuel bills that more comprehensibly tell householders just how
much gas and electricity they use. We believe that suppliers
should roll the meters out nationally as swiftly as can be achieved.
The meters have a particularly important role to play in overcoming
the information barrier that prevents simple, cost-free action
in millions of households across the whole UK.
(Paragraph 80)
29. We
recommend strongly that the provision of real-time display units
must not become a proxy for smart meters and must not be allowed
to delay the full roll-out of smart meters to every home in the
country within a decade. (Paragraph 82)
30. We
recommend that the Government undertake research into the number
of non-grant-supported microtechnology installations in the UK
to provide an accurate picture of their spread and take-up.
(Paragraph 89)
31. We
recommend that as part of its current review of financial incentives
the Government investigate the potential for subsidising feed-in
tariffs to encourage the uptake of home microgeneration technologies.'
(Paragraph 90)
32. We
call on the Government to make an early assessment of skills deficits
across the planning, construction and retrofitting industries,
and to engage in dialogue with the construction industry on improving
training in skills required for refurbishment and renovation of
existing homes. We intend to return to this area in more detail
later this year during our inquiry into Planning Skills.
(Paragraph 94)
33. The
bulk of our housing, however old and leaky it may be, is capable
of the kind of improvement that will deliver the necessary reduction
in carbon emissions without destroying the visual character and
appearance that makes it uniquely ours. We need neither a mass
demolition programme followed by the construction of replacement
Eco-homes nor to preserve every last pre-1919 building precisely
as it was on the day it was built. The trick will be to find imaginative
solutions as new markets and skills develop to bring new ideas
and technologies to homes in which the "low-hanging fruit"
of draught exclusion and insulation has already been plucked.
(Paragraph 102)
34. Reducing
carbon emissions by 60 per cent over the next 42 years requires
remarkable change in our habits, our fuel consumption and the
technologies we use to build and run our homes. Yet even the
most superficial glance back 42 years is enough to remind us that
interplanetary space travel, mobile telephones, the internet,
and even heart transplants were then yet to be achieved. The
question underlying this Report is whether the Government can
encourage millions of individuals and families, be they in rented
flats or homes of their own, to rise to the challenge; but it
is, indeed, unimaginable to say that we cannot make substantial
change. (Paragraph 103)
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