§ Mr. SpellerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to publish guidance upon appropriate standards for energy efficiency in existing residential buildings; and if he will make a statement on what he estimates to be the average potential for energy saving within the present stock.
§ Mrs. RoeThe British Standards Institution has just published a code of practice for the energy efficient refurbishment of housing. This Department and the Department of Energy have contributed to this work and it has had technical support from the Building Research Establishment (BRE). The Government have also published extensive guidance on how to improve the energy efficiency of existing dwellings, including this Department's guide "The Energy Efficient Renovation of Houses", and the Department. of Energy's recently published home energy survey for householders. These publications provide comprehensive advice for house owners and landlords.
Considerable progress has been made in improving the energy performance of dwellings (as evident, for example, from the BRE evidence to the Select Committee on Energy). The BRE estimates that the average potential for cost-effective improvements to the energy performance of dwellings is about 20 per cent. of current energy consumption.