Retrofitting homes 'will help reduce CO2'

Properties throughout the UK will need to be retrofitted in a bid to help meet CO2 reduction targets, an expert has indicated.

Founder of Whatgreenhome.com Gordon Miller stressed that big changes will need to be made to help cut energy usage throughout the country.

He explained: "There is a legally binding [reduction target] of 80% by 2050.

"The estimates are that around 75% of the existing housing stock will still be around by 2050."

Mr Miller described it as "absolutely crucial" for energy efficiency to be improved and suggested that a new government initiative could help.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change revealed it would be carrying out a green transformation over the course of the next decade, with the intention of cutting emissions from the UK's homes by 29%.

It intends to insulate six million homes by the end of 2011 and to have offered up to seven million eco upgrades by 2020.

Posted by Martin Ellis