The report 'Building A Greener Britain-Transforming Britain's Housing Stock', from the Federation of Master Builders argues that the Government needs to make a commitment now to upgrade the UK's existing homes to make them greener.

It says if moves were made to encourage people to upgrade existing housing stock the house building industry would be worth between £3.5 billion and £6.5 billion a year, on top of the existing £23bn renovation market.

The report's recommendations include:
* New government housing policy to demonstrate its commitment to low-carbon refurbishment of existing homes, so that manufacturers and suppliers can invest with confidence in the development of the necessary supply chains
* Cut VAT from 17.5 per cent to 5 per cent on housing refurbishment across the UK as soon as possible.
* Introduce Council Tax rebates to promote energy efficient homes
* Introduce a feed-in tariff to stimulate greater uptake of micro-generation technologies
* Review of Energy Performance Certificates to improve accuracy and reliability
* Energy efficient work to be carried out at the same time as other refurbishment work.

Richard Diment, director-general of the FMB said:
"What is particularly encouraging for builders is that at a time when the building sector is suffering a downturn as a result of the credit crunch there is a potential new market of several billion pounds every year.

This is good news all round not only for builders but also for homeowners who want warmer houses, and for meeting the UK's environmental commitments to cut carbon emissions. All we need now is the political will!"

The Government aims to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.