The good news is that grants for loft insulation and cavity wall insulation are secure for the immediate future, but homeowners and private tenants are being urged to apply for their grant now whilst funding is still available.

An estimated 1 million eligible homes have still not taken advantage of grants for home insulation, which could see them save up to £220 a year off their energy bill. Free insulation is available to those over 70 or on certain benefits, and for everyone else a grant of between 40-70% is available.

More good news came yesterday when the Government dispelled rumours they would cut the solar feed in tariff and pledged to leave the current rate unchanged until the next review.

Further discussions will focus on the new Green Deal scheme, whereby homes can borrow money to improve their energy efficiency and pay it back through savings in their energy bill. Details are sketchy and this is not due to be launched for another two years.

The study, led by EDF Energy, found that over 70% of households in the UK have now installed energy saving measures such as <a href=”http://www.insulationgrants.info”>home insulation</a>.

This represents a significant increase over the last three years, with many homes taking advantage of government grants available increase their energy efficiency.

We are, however, still falling behind our European neighbours when it comes to using sustainable methods for generating energy.

Spain came out top, with more of its energy generating from sustainable sources (the UK ranked 6th).

COO of EDF Energy, Eva Eisenschimmel, suggests that Briton’s should take advantage of funding available for microgeneration, and avoid wasting energy within the home:

“Make choices about whether your home is powered by renewable energy sources and low carbon electricity, as well as choices around the management of appliances in your home – making sure that you don’t waste electricity through leaving things switched on when they’re no longer used or on stand-by overnight.”

With the recent introduction of <a href=”http://www.solar-feed-in-tariffs.co.uk”>solar feed in tariffs</a>, and the announcement of the first stage of the microgeneration initiative being launched, using renewable sources of energy should become more accessible over the next 12 months.

The loan would be linked to your property, rather than to you, and is designed to help spread the cost of energy saving improvements by allowing households to pay back the loan from the energy savings made each year.

The ‘save-as-you-pay’ initiative is part of the Governments plan to cut emissions from all 22 million UK households by 29% by 2020.

Installing solar panels can reduce energy bills by up to 80%, and can even earn money from selling energy back to the grid. But many are unable to fund the initial cost of installing such measures, which can amount to around £7000-£10,000.

Whilst this new scheme would help to reduce this initial investment, critics argue that new home owners could be forced to pay for the previous owners loans, and could lead to problems selling a home in the first place.

“I think it could have a detrimental effect on the housing market. Just the principle of attaching a loan to the property complicates things unnecessarily and it interferes with the free market value of the house,”  Gary Smith, President of the National Association of Estate Agents says.

However, Ed Miliband argues that the improvements made to the home, and therefore the energy savings, would far outweigh any loan attached to the property:  “You’ll find that the energy bills are significantly lower so, say, you’ll be having a few hundred pounds off your energy bills and offsetting that you’ll have a couple of hundred pounds in payments.”

The Conservatives argue that any loan paypack should be linked to household energy bill, allowing greater transparency: “It would not be a debt attached to the home, we would pay it off over time through the electricity bill,” Greg Clark, the Conservatives energy spokesman.

The Goverment is due to launch a new Feed in Tariff for solar panels and wind turbines in April, allowing homes to sell energy back to the grid in return for tax-free cash. This is coupled with existing grants available towards the cost of cavity wall and loft insulation.

Whatever your view, it seems evironmental policy, and specifically how to encourage households to cut emmissions, will be a popular point of discussion in the run up to this year’s general election.