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... Or more to the point, what will you do without it?
Because that is the cost of making a home meet the regulations that the government want to introduce, in order to 'save the planet', according to Lord Adair Turner, chair of the UK's Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
After home insulation and more efficient boilers, we now need more intrusive things – double glazing, cavity wall insulation, solid wall insulation. We need much more of a whole house approach – one-stop shops where people can get a total report on what they need to do to their homes. It may be expensive – between £10,000 and £15,000."
Some people don't earn that much in a year. But it gets worse.
The CCC believes that the cost of the scheme would be paid for by a combination of government subsidy and higher electricity bills.
Last year, our spineless MPs voted by a huge majority to allow Turner's committee - the CCC - to set the UK's "carbon budget". This target dictates how much CO2 the country allows itself to produce. This is done through creating new laws, regulations and taxes, all of which you end up paying for. In other words, Turner and his cronies tell parliament - your elected representatives - what to do.
Turner said there was a case for greater state intervention in helping to reduce carbon emissions from the motor industry. Arguing that there were "limits" to what markets could achieve, the CCC chairman said: "We need support for the initial wave of electric cars."
The government has allocated £250m to hasten the arrival of electric cars but Turner said the CCC would like to see £800m of public money spent on setting up a network of charging points. "It's chicken and egg. Motorists won't buy the cars unless there are enough charging points; the government is reluctant to put in the charging points while there are no electric cars."
Motorists won't be able to afford cars, let alone rechargeable cars if they're forking out £15,000 to make their homes "green".
Not content with setting the targets which create the regulations, subsidies, and taxes that you pay for, Turner now wants to reach even further into your pockets.
Turner said experts should look at the possibility of using a financial services transaction tax to help poor countries develop low-carbon growth strategies. "Any tax would have to be agreed at the global level because it would be difficult to enforce in one country. That's why people have tended to think that the proceeds should be used for global common goods, such as the environment."So you will be paying:
- For your own home to meet environmental regulations, whether you want it to or not
- For other people's homes to be meet environmental regulations (because they can't afford it), whether you or they want it or not.
- For even more subsidies to the green energy sector and motor industry.
- For even greater fuel bills.
- For gifts to other countries, so that they can be as 'eco friendly' as this place.
