The latest Government initiative to create a 'one-stop-shop' service to make homes greener - the Green Homes Service - needs more than just information if we are to create greener homes and meet the Government’s target to reduce carbon emissions, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Director of External Affairs at the FMB, says: "The Green Homes Services is a positive step forward to make our existing homes greener but information alone is not sufficient if we are to encourage the millions of householders to upgrade their homes to make them more energy efficient.

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"We know that 66 per cent of the homes that we are living in today will still be in use in 2050 but so far the Government has spectacularly failed to provide any meaningful incentives to make existing homes more energy efficient."

Mr Berry concluded: "The cost of upgrading an existing house to make it greener costs £20,000 to meet eco-excellent standards, which is far cheaper than having to build new ones which require an infrastructure subsidy alone of around £35,000 per home plus an extra £30,000 to make them 'zero carbon' in use.

"The easiest step would be to reduce VAT from 17.5 per cent to five per cent on energy efficient repairs and maintenance to existing homes in order to retain their future use."

(JM)