A nationwide insulation campaign

Scotland's housing stock is poorly insulated and inefficiently heated, and fuel bills are too high, especially for those on low incomes. Wasted energy also means more climate-busting pollution. Properly insulating all Scotland's homes would be the cheapest and most efficient way to tackle all these problems at the same time.

Green Councillors in Kirklees delivered a project to provide free loft and cavity insulation to every house that could benefit. They are providing loans for more expensive insulation measures, loans which only have to be paid back when the property is sold again.

During the Budget negotiations in 2008 and 2009, Scottish Green MSPs proposed a similar ten year programme to provide free insulation across Scotland, costed at £100m a year.

The average household would have saved £340 a year. Once the job was done, even assuming no energy price rises, Scottish householders would have saved a total of £782m a year, every year.

It would also have boosted jobs in the hard-hit construction sector, and cut Scotland's carbon emissions by 5.85%.

SNP Ministers rejected the idea, and instead launched a £15m a year means-tested scheme expected to cover just two or three houses in every thousand.

Then, in January 2010, the Green MSPs persuaded Ministers to start funding a universal scheme, and that will start this year. However, it's still far too little money, and that means it will take far too long to get the job done. The Scottish Greens will keep campaigning to speed up the programme and deliver the free nationwide insulation our homes need.

Find out more about the campaign here.