All homes sold in England and Wales from June next year will still have to carry energy efficiency 'eco-labels,' despite the recent government backtrack on a central part of the packs.
An Energy Performance Certificate will be required for all houses sold and bought, reflecting their energy efficiency and carbon emissions. An energy efficiency assessment will precede each sale, covering heating, hot water, lighting and insulation/draughtproofing.
The labels, similar to the voluntary EU eco-label scheme (awarded in May to three British youth hostels), will place the energy efficiency of each home on a scale of A to G and give advice on how to improve.
They will form part of the "Home Information Pack" that the Department for Communities is introducing next year, even though the inclusion of a home condition report in the pack has been scrapped.
Together with smart meters and disclosure notices from electricity suppliers on the carbon content and source of the electricity supplied to a home, the measure is expected to transform people's awareness of domestic energy use, and lead to more take-up of micro-generation.
European agreements require all homes for sale in the EU to carry energy certificates from 2009. France has already introduced a compulsory eco-label for homes.
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