Warm Homes
Millions of vulnerable people in Britain live in cold homes that make them ill and cost a fortune to heat.
Spending time in a cold, damp house can make heart disease, strokes and flu more likely. And there's an increased risk of illness and death among older people, young children and those with a disability.
Homes with shoddy insulation and inefficient boilers don't just harm people's health and leak heat.
The wasted energy means tonnes of climate-changing emissions are needlessly pumped into the atmosphere. More than a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions come from heating our homes and water.
Making our homes energy efficient is one of the cheapest and quickest ways to slash CO2 and help avoid dangerous climate change.
And a nationwide overhaul of our homes would:
- Protect people's health.
- Save families money on fuel bills.
- Create tens of thousands of jobs.
- Save the NHS millions of pounds.
Sounds like a good idea? It is. But it won't happen by itself.
What we're doing
Friends of the Earth has a long and successful record of campaigning for tougher action to insulate UK homes and make them more energy efficient.
Over a decade ago, we pressured the Government to introduce a legal definition of fuel poverty and a target to end it by 2016.
Houses rented from a private landlord or through a letting agency are the most likely to be the worst insulated.
In Autumn 2011, we won our campaign to introduce a new law making it illegal for landlords to let the coldest, worst insulated homes from 2018.
But to help people cope with rising energy bills and prevent climate change, we need much tougher Government action to insulate all homes.
The Government urgently needs to write a plan showing how it is going to do this, including:
- Ensuring every home has an Energy Performance Certificate showing how much it costs to heat and the improvements that can be made. All property adverts should show the energy rating of the home.
- Use the billions of pounds it will receive from carbon taxes and trading to boost the money available to help insulate our homes, especially for those on low incomes.
- A package of tax breaks to encourage households and landlords to do the right thing and tough laws to ensure the worst insulated homes are improved.
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© Jon Challicom
