One of the best bits of news we've heard in a long time was delivered by Ed Miliband last week. He set out a visionary plan to upgrade the energy efficiency of existing homes and in doing so cut carbon emissions 29% in 10 years. It's also a terrific fillip for the construction industry: the government's figures suggest a ￡2bn a year workload and 65,000 jobs - and the UK Green Building Council puts the figure far higher (see page 32). Of course we have the election in a few weeks, so anything could happen - and we're definitely keeping it in the spotlight with our Charter 284 campaign. As we said back in 2006 in our 99% campaign, tackling the existing stock has to be at the heart of any carbon reduction strategy, and now we have an ingenious system of green loans and a pay-as-you-save mechanism (originally suggested by the UKGBC) to pay the upfront costs.
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