What Will It Cost to Green My Home
How much does eco-refurbishment cost?
The Green Dealhas launched but are the costs of eco-refurbishment well understood?A number of basic factors influence the costsinvolved:
Scale and ambition of works
The age, type and size of your home
Grants, subsidies, offers and incentives
Most projects start with improved insulationand draught-proofing and move to more efficient heating and windows. Solarand heat recovery systems mayalso be suitable, but radical carbon reduction couldrequire all this and more.
The final cost will be driven by how green you want to go. Reducing a typical older home’s carbon emissions by 80%will not be cheap. One study by The Existing Homes Alliance puts the cost at between £12,000 and £54,000. If your budget is at the lower end, solar panels and external wall insulation are likely to be off the menu.
Insulating older solid wall properties is challenging, especially if all your walls are exposed to the elements. But, if your property was built after 1930, it will probably have cavity walls.These can beinsulated at little or no cost with anenergy supplier offer.
Subsidies change over time so it is worth seizing a good deal.Modest grants are available for renewable heat technologies like solar thermal, biomass and heat pumps. The long awaited Renewable Heat Incentive is due insummer 2013. Green Deal finance packages are due in the New Year.
Be sure you get thebest independent advice and start with a refurbishment plan and a defined budget.For more on costs, see
Sash windows can be double-glazed
Photo courtesy of
Notes for Editors:
1.This article was produced by the SustainableEnergyAcademy.
Contact Gordon Glass, Online Marketing Manager
To email please use the format.
2.The Big Picture
The Green Deal is a Government backed scheme to help people to refurbish their homes. With rising fuel prices, over 3.5 million people living in fuel poverty and some legally binding carbon reduction targets, the Government needs us all to start cutting our fuel use. The government is targeting an 80% reduction in UK CO2 emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. The first Green Deal finance packages are expected in January 2013.
3. The Existing Home Alliance Report
SuperHomers Robert Cohen and Russell Smith worked out the carbon impact of various energy saving measures along with their costs.The results are shown in areportpublished in 2010 by The Existing Homes Alliance. The report estimates a cost of£12,000 – £54,000for the eco refurbishment of a typical 3 bed semi. This cost reflects the work needed to cut CO2 emissions by between 70 – 80%.
4.SuperHomes
Only older home that have been refurbished to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 60% meet the SuperHomes standard. Over 140pioneeringSuperHome households host open days to demonstrate how they renovated their homes to make them so much more environmentally friendly. Properties include Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian houses. Open Days are held in March and September.
The SuperHomes network has won multiple awards and was a 1st prize winner at The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy in 2009.
5.Partners
SuperHomes enjoys the generous support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, WWF, Energy Saving Trust, National Energy Foundation, Megaman, SIG Energy Management and PassivSystems.
6.The Sustainable EnergyAcademy
The SustainableEnergyAcademy is a registered charity. It promotes education and action to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and communities. Its primary initiative is SuperHomes - a network of older homes which have been refurbished by their owners to the highest standard of energy efficiency (at least 60% less carbon intensive). The aim is to create a network of 500 SuperHomes that are local and publicly accessible by 2020.