Now is the time for house builders to change their ways and implement change to achieve the government’s target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2015. However, there are those still questioning the cost of this change to not only a construction cost but to their business itself. There are two options; completely refurbish existing homes to improve efficiency extravagantly, or gradually save major parts of housing bills as a result of installing low energy light bulbs or roof insulation.
Currently, there are a plethora of houses with problems of air-tightness connections, thermal bridging and condensation at floor junctions. These problems need to be solved to improve efficiency. This may be done through mechanical ventilation with heat recovery unit (MVHR) and corresponding extract and fresh air supply ductwork.
Ofgem modelled four different energy demand scenarios and predicted price rises between 13% and 26% by 2020. This forecast therefore also encourages the importance of decent home refurbishment from a development and re-sale perspective.
