Research carried out by the National Housing Federation (NHF) has revealed that homes in England produce around 58.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. This is roughly equivalent to the CO2 contribution of 28 million cars. Seeing as there are 27 million cars in England emitting 56 million tonnes of CO2 annually, homes are having a greater impact on climate than cars in England.
The problem lies, according to the NHF, with gas central heating and poor insulation, meaning as heat escapes from homes more gas is required to keep them warm. This shows the importance of improving the energy efficiency of homes in order to become net-zero emitters by 2050 - a legally binding target. Doing so could produce significant cuts in carbon emissions.
Alongside the research the NHF has warned that there is also an issue in that many people will be unaware of the issues currently or will be unable to make their homes more efficient. It found that around 60% of homeowners do not realise that energy use has much of an impact on carbon emissions.
The NHF believes that when it comes to social housing, it is easier for social landlords to retrofit entire streets or estates, whereas private landlords have to work on individual properties most of the time. With this in mind, the NHF is calling on the Government to invest £3.8 billion into the retrofitting of social housing with the aim of improving energy efficiency. This would allow housing associations to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate C rating by 2030 in two million homes - the equivalent impact of removing all cars in Manchester and Birmingham.
