Has the government successfully implemented low carbon refurbishment Dissertation

Has the government successfully implemented low carbon refurbishment of the UK's existing housing stock - Dissertation Example The government’s success or failure to address the problem of upgrading the existing housing stock in the UK was determined in this paper by first establishing a reference point, a time and date when the objectives and targets were communicated. DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) supported and actually funded a study that led to the updated report on â€Å"Carbon Emission Reduction Efficiency Improvements to the UK Housing Stock†, by L D Shorrock, J Henderson, J I Utley, and G A Walters. This was shown in the BRE Report BR 435, December 2001. The BRE (Better Regulations Executive) is a part of the Dept. of Business, Innovation and Skills, which leads the regulatory reforms agenda across UK. There is a need to know the principles that guide the BRE because those principles can likewise be used as a basis for saying there was a failure or success in addressing the issue of upgrading the present housing stock in the UK. BRE maintains five (5) princip les of good regulation. These are: (1) transparency, (2) accountability, (3) proportionate, (4) consistent, and (5) targeted. And BRE aims to do its role to simplify regulations without having to aggravate business sectors and causing excess additional costs. One other communication coming from the BRE stated a commitment to regulate well, by simplifying and reducing costs as a result of imposing regulations. The more important objectives were to facilitate business growth and economic prosperity. According to Lucas (2009, p.2) BRE has to strike a balance between enforcing legislations and facilitating business. Prioritizing objectives according to value pointed to the more important factors, namely, cost reduction, business growth, and economic prosperity. Meeting the housing needs also has greater value than being accurate with reductions in percentage of carbon emissions per house. Background of the Problem The December 2001 report forecasted that by 2005, there would be a reduct ion in the carbon emission per year by as much as 22 MtC/yr. (million tons of carbon emission per year) if appropriate measures were implemented. But not all measures were cost effective. Granted that only the cost-effective approach were implemented, CO2 emission was forecasted to be reduced by only 9 to 17.5 MtC/yr so that the forecasted reduction in CO2 emission by 2010 was expected to reach only 17.5 MtC/yr. The forecast for 2020 was for a drop by 13.5 MtC/yr. Unfortunately, using only the cost-effective approach could cut down the CO2 emission to a figure between 3.5 and 9.5 MtC/yr. The forecast until 2050 was reached with the assumption that nearly all the potential insulation measures can be utilized effectively. Renewable energy technology use will speed up the reduction of CO2 emissions, making it possible to attain a 29.5 MtC/yr. All these were according to Sharrock, Henderson, Utley, and Walters(2001, p. 7). As of that time, 2001, the number of houses with energy savings potential was estimated. See Table 1. As can be seen in Table I, there are millions of homes in need of renovation. In fact, in 2005, a survey known as the English House Condition Survey, was conducted that led to the news released by the Rethinking Housing Refurbishment (RHR) entity. The RHR is a BRE Demonstration Project. It reported â€Å"almost 6 million homes (28 % of the housing stock) failed the standard†. ( RHR 2010, p. 2 ) Little Done To Address Existing