Non-Energy Efficient Homes - Worse than Air Travel says GGF Chief Executive at CBI Conference

The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) attended the CBI Conference & Exhibition last week in London where the UK's top business leaders and the Prime Minister and other Government Ministers gathered to discuss business and economic issues. In addition, this year the subject of sustainability was a focussed upon very intently.

On the first day of business the CBI launched its eagerly awaited report 'Climate Change: Everyone's Business'. The report brought together for the first time representatives from every major sector of British Business to assess the challenges posed by Climate Change and how to tackle it. It highlighted the fact that what was required was a 'sustainable environment for the long term'.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown echoed this in his address to the Conference and further indicated that the challenge for industry was to 'lead the world in environmental technologies'.

GGF Chief Executive Nigel Rees welcomed the report and in particular the report's recognition that Government must oversee a fundamental redesign of taxes and regulations to give businesses and consumers the incentives to do the right thing. Avoiding at all costs - as mentioned by CBI Chief Executive Richard Lambert, 'the temptation to rake in more revenue, which would be seen as a fundamental breach of trust'.

'The Government can make substantial Carbon Savings by looking at the existing housing stock,' said Nigel 'Our research shows that homes are responsible for 28% of all UK CO2 emissions - this figure is astonishing compared to the 5.5% figure for air travel. By converting ALL existing windows in Great Britain to Energy Efficient Windows the country would save annually:

• £ 2,363 million
• 3,970,663 tonnes of carbon
• 14,559,098 tonnes of CO2

'4 million tonnes of carbon would be saved through Energy Efficient Windows in housing. This represents a huge proportion of the Government's total target for the household sector as identified in the new National Energy Efficiency Action Plan.'

'I look forward to hearing how the CBI and Government will implement these proposed incentives to encourage homeowners to tackle their energy inefficient homes' he concluded.