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'Radical changes' needed to reduce home carbon emissions
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The Government's housing minister has called for radical changes to be considered to ensure that homes of the future reduce their carbon emissions and help combat climate change.
Yvette Cooper said: "Whether it be turf on the roof, wind turbines in the garden, heat pumps below the basement or micro boilers, the homes of the future will need to be powered in a completely different way.
"We need to develop the technology to support our Victorian terraces and sixties tower blocks as well as our new homes."
Later this year, every new home will need to have an energy performance certificate which will set out its energy efficiency rating and include practical advice on how to cut carbon emissions.
Yvette Cooper added: "There is great potential to link energy performance certificates with green mortgages where home buyers could get top-up loans at preferential rates."
Last month, Secretary of State Ruth Kelly launched a challenging package of measures which put tackling climate change at the heart of the planning system and the way we build new homes.
Currently, the energy used to heat, light and run our homes accounts for 27% of all of the UK's carbon emissions - around 40 million tonnes.
To help tackle this, the Government is proposing that all new homes be zero carbon by 2016.
Energy efficient and insulated buildings, which draw their energy from zero or low carbon technologies and therefore produce no net carbon emissions from all energy use over the course of a year, will help reduce carbon emissions as well as lowering fuel bills for households.
