A builders’ federation hopes to convince George Osborne to include energy efficient homes in his next budget.

Lancashire, England -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/25/2013 --The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reconsider his timeline for energy efficient and zero carbon homes by including it in the next budget. The body has advised the government of the important of increasing the energy efficiency of Britain’s buildings.

The group which is the UK’s largest trade association within the building industry hopes that their pressure will influence the government to use funds that have been acquired from carbon taxation to increase efficiency. They hope that the funds will be used to help householders and property owners decrease their fuel and energy bills.

The association is trying to encourage the government to increase the efficiency of existing homes whilst creating more zero carbon homes. The Federation of Master Builders hopes that the UK will aim to see all news buildings nearly zero carbon by the year 2020. This ambition is in keeping with that of the EU timetable.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders revealed: “We need action now to help get Britain building towards growth, and independent economists estimate that diverting funds into a massive public-sector programme to improve the energy-efficiency of Britain’s existing 26 million homes would boost GDP by 0.2%, create 130,000 jobs and help the government meet its own targets for cutting carbon emissions.”

Furthermore, the federation hopes to see VAT cuts for householders who are making changes to their home with energy efficient repercussions. The proposed VAT would drop from 20% to 5%.

Berry continued: “Britain’s ageing housing stock is deteriorating as home-owners can’t afford to get work done. Cutting Vat on renovation and repair would give a shot in the arm to beleaguered builders, create jobs and encourage householders to make their homes more comfortable, affordable and energy-efficient.”

Currently homeowners can discover how much energy and money their home is wasting with the aid of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). The EPC determines how much energy that a home is using and how little it could potentially use if the right installations were made. The government ran Green Deal is offering a loan to UK property owners who want to make energy efficient alterations to their properties. The Green Deal loan allows property owners to offset the installation costs whilst ensuring that they do not have to repay a higher rate than they are saving. The government hopes that these changes will allow property owners to make significant savings whilst causing fewer energy emissions.

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