According to The Energy Saving Trust: –

There are approximately 26 million homes in Great Britain, and we have some of the world’s oldest housing stock, meaning the challenge to cut emissions really is on our doorstep. Our new Housing Energy Model identifies 96 different types of house in Britain, based on age, size, heatingsystem, ownership (rented or owner-occupied), and thermal performance. Looking at these 96 house types, we can identify which house types account for the most CO2 emissions individually, emitting up to 26 tonnes of CO2 each year: nearly five times the average.

Worst CO₂ offenders are:

• pre-1919, electrically-heated, solid wall, detached or semi-detached homes, in poor condition in terms of basic energy efficiency measures (0.07 per cent of housing stock, 25.9 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• pre-1919, electrically-heated, solid wall, detached or semi-detached homes, in good condition in terms of basic energy efficiency measures (0.24 per cent of housing stock, 20.7 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• twentieth century, electrically-heated, detached or semi-detached homes, in poor condition in terms of basic energy efficiency measures (0.22 per cent of housing stock, 17.4 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• pre-1919, oil heated, solid wall, detached or semi-detached homes, in poor condition in terms of basic energy efficiency measures (0.34 per cent of housing stock, 14.4 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• pre-1919, electrically-heated, solid wall, terraced homes, in poor condition in terms of basic energy efficiency measures (0.08 per cent of housing stock, 14.2 tonnes CO₂/ year)

Housetypes accounting for the largest proportion of carbon emissions are:

• twentieth century semi and detached with basic energy efficiency measures fitted (17.3 per cent of housing stock, 5.5 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• twentieth century semi and detached with no energy efficiency measures fitted (7.1 per cent of housing stock, 7.9 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• post-1980 semi and detached, gas heated with basic energy efficiency measures fitted (6.4 per cent of housing stock, 5.8 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• twentieth century terraced, with basic energy efficiency measures fitted (9.2 per cent of housing stock, 4 tonnes CO₂/ year)
• pre-1919 terraced, with basic energy efficiency measures fitted (5.7 per cent of housing stock, 5.2 tonnes CO₂/ year)

What are the figures based on?

The statistics are based on the EST’s housing and economic models. The model is based on the English House Condition Survey which was analysed to produce 96 standardised house types about which EST has detailed underlying data. These are characteristic of 98 per cent of the housing stock: the numbers for each house type are then scaled up to reflect their relative proportions and the real total number of homes in Great Britain.

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