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Private sector housing
Households account for 27% of the UK’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).
There is a legislative timetable in place for new dwellings to become zero carbon by 2016, however, approximately three quarters of the homes that will exist in 2050 have already been built.
Therefore, by 2050, emissions from existing buildings need to be reduced substantially if we are to reduce the UK’s overall emissions by 80%.
Local authorities are centrally placed to lead a coordinated approach to reducing CO2 emissions from the existing housing stock.
These pages provide resources, tools and information that will help local authorities develop and implement a strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from the existing housing stock in their area. These pages focus on private sector housing which makes up over 80% of the English housing stock. Further support on reducing emissions from social and managed housing can be found on our support for social housing pages.
Overview of pages
Developing an area based insulation schemeAn area based approach delivers energy efficiency measures in a spatial area – which could be a street, a neighbourhood, a local authority area or a group of local authority areas. Evaluation of these schemes has shown that they are one of the most proactive and cost effective methods for achieving significant CO2 reductions. This pages contains our in depth guidance as well case studies showing how successful schemes operate. |
The Homes Energy Efficiency Database (HEED)
The Homes Energy Efficiency Database (HEED) is an online resource that provides detailed information on the energy efficiency of the UK housing stock.
The database has been developed by the Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Government. It brings together a wide range of existing sources of data on household energy efficiency and currently contains information on over 10 million homes (42 per cent of the UK housing stock).
This page provides details of how to use HEED and how to register and access it online, future developments and examples of local authorities using HEED to help reduce CO2 emissions from their housing stock. |
The Private rented sectorThe private rented sector accounts for 13 per cent of the housing stock nationwide, some 3 million properties across the UK. In some local authority areas, particularly in urban centres and university towns, private rented accommodation can be as much as 25 per cent of the total housing stock. |
Other relevant pages
Sources of fundingInformation on funding sources for reducing CO2 emissions in the existing housing stock can be found on our funding pages. |
Overview of policy and legislationAn overview of the policy landscape for reducing CO2 emissions from the existing housing stock can be found on our policy and legislation pages. |
