Ambitious U.K. PlanTo Insulate Homes, Slash CO2 by 2030

In what is being billed as the “great British refurb,” the U.K.’s energy and climate change secretary has unveiled a plan to insulate all homes by 2030 and offer financial incentives to homeowners to install solar panels, biomass boilers, and ground source heat pumps. Noting that households account for 27 percent of all U.K. greenhouse gas emissions, energy secretary Ed Miliband said the government intended to initially retrofit 400,000 homes a year with wall and attic insulation, with the goal of upgrading 25 percent of homes by 2020 and the remainder by 2030. The insulating program, as well as the incentives for installing renewable energy technologies, will be paid for by a tax on utility companies beginning in 2011. He did not offer details on how the levy might affect consumers. Miliband’s proposal is in keeping with the overall U.K. goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 80 percent by 2050. “We need to move from incremental steps forward on household efficiency to a comprehensive national plan,” said Miliband.