Carbon Neutral Question Mark

The carbon footprint of property from a large office block to a single house is increasingly coming to prominence. More and more companies are becoming aware of their heating, lighting and other environment-related service costs and want to occupy buildings which more than just acknowledge this. Even refurbishment schemes now have to be serious about such issues if they are to be successful.

With housing every vendor has to have an EPC report detailing issues such as heat loss and insulation values. A poor score on these is likely to mean the house is harder to sell or will sell at a lesser figure. This means that house-owners have started to take the business of insulation and green heating and lighting far more seriously. There are grants available, usually through the Local Authority, in many cases for roof insulation, cavity wall insulation and even double glazing sometimes. All these items have to considered as part of a house purchase.

There are also many different schemes for the use of photovoltaic panels on roofs. These can be very long term leases up to twenty five years and whilst they can certainly bring the benefits of lower heating costs they have to be considered very carefully. The Government has substantially cut the amount of grant available which makes these much less attractive than had previously been the case.