Holmes Plans To Cut Harmful Emissions From Homes

Paul Holmes MP is supporting radical new proposals that would make local homes more environmentally-friendly and cut fuel bills.

The Liberal Democrat Climate Change Starts At Home plans would:

Make home insulation more affordable for local people;

Reduce fuel bill lifting pensioners and others on low incomes out of fuel poverty;

More than halve the amount of polluting carbon emissions produced by homes in Chesterfield.

They would do this by:

Setting tough new Green House standards for new homes which would cut fuel bills and soon pay for themselves;

Creating a system of 'energy mortgages', so the cost of energy efficiency measures can be repaid over the long-term, using the money saved from lower energy bills;

Placing new incentives on energy companies, so they maximise their profits by helping their customers become more energy efficient.

Paul Holmes MP said: "Improving the energy efficiency of our homes is crucial to combating climate change, as it is responsible for over a quarter of all of our carbon emissions.

In 2004, the latest year for which we have figures, homes here in Chesterfield produced 254,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide1. That's 2.6 tonnes per person.

The package of proposals we are putting forward would reduce carbon emissions from existing homes by more than 60 per cent, and from newly built houses by 95 per cent, by 2050. That is more carbon than is produced annually by all the cars on Britain's roads.

Locally it would mean 180.3 fewer tonnes of polluting carbon dioxide from homes across Chesterfield every year."

Paul explained how the proposals would work:

"Millions of people struggle to pay their fuel bills each winter, yet are unable to afford improvements on their homes to make them more energy efficient. Creating a national scheme of 'energy mortgages' will allow people to use the money saved from having an energy efficient home to invest in the necessary improvements.

People are paying high fuel bills because their homes too easily lose energy. Currently, British homes waste an average of £385 a year in energy compared to Sweden. Our proposals will help people save the environment and cut bills.

A recent government study found 101 000 households living in fuel poverty in the East Midlands, 5.7% of all households in the region. Government statisticians have calculated that, across the East Midlands, there were 2000 excess winter deaths, of whom 1800 were pensioners."

What others are saying about the Lib Dem proposals:

"WWF is impressed with the scope, ambition and credibility of the Liberal Democrats' Climate Changes Starts at Home policy. It is good to see political parties getting to grips with the environmental challenge we face, and this policy raises the bar for other parties to match."

Paul King, Director of Campaigns, WWF-UK

"If we are to face up to the challenge of climate change we need to act now. This policy provides a comprehensive approach to reducing the carbon emissions from not just new homes, but more importantly from our existing homes."

Graham Ponting, Director of the National Home Improvement Council

"The Liberal Democrats are to be congratulated on putting forward a policy which would set higher energy efficiency standards and cut carbon emissions from new and existing homes."

Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy