Barack Obama and David Cameron push for home energy upgrades

Two big home energy upgrade stories to report on this morning.

As the climate change talks continue to stutter in Copenhagen, UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron has pledged to kick start £20bn of home energy retrofits in the UK if his party is elected to government next year. According to the Guardian, six million British households would each be offered £6,500 of energy efficiency measures.

Cameron is proposing a pay-as-you-save type scheme, under which households would pay for the upgrades through resulting savings on their energy bills. Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt report:

Cameron's plans for a multibillion-pound investment in energy efficiency are part of a strategy to make environmentalism relevant. Companies such as Tesco would lag lofts and insulate walls, then share the resulting savings in electricity bills with householders over a minimum 15-20 years.

The councils that have struck deals with the Tories would not only offer insulation packages, but also identify the streets most in need of help. A household with the most basic package of measures could expect to see savings of £360 a year on its heating bills, with an energy-efficiency provider putting in an initial investment of £1,500. Some of the savings would go towards repaying the upfront costs of the improvements. Households saving £360 a year would need to pay £120 towards the £1,500 investment, but would keep the remaining £240 a year for themselves.

Meanwhile Barack Obama has called on the US Congress to provide more financial incentives for homeowners to upgrade, describing insulation as "sexy stuff" - yes I'm serious, see the report. "“The simple act of retrofitting these [old] buildings to make them more energy efficient … is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving families money and reducing harmful emissions," Obama said.