Ministers have called for a ‘green revolution' in housing which embraces the retrofitting of existing properties and a zero-carbon standard for new builds from 2016.

Explaining the scale of the challenge, local government minister, Andrew Stunell, said slashing buildings' emissions, which today accounted for 40% of the country's total to almost zero by 2050, was equivalent to refurbishing a city the size of Cambridge every month. A package of measures contained in the Government's Green Deal helping house-holders improve energy efficiency becomes available in 2012.