All new homes in Wales to be heated and powered by clean energy from 2025

If Wales is to meet its climate targets, it must address the significant contribution housing makes to greenhouse gas emissions: new and existing homes currently account for 9% of Welsh greenhouse gas emissions.To address this, the Welsh Government is proposing the introduction of tough new standards on new homes, to be implemented in stages over the next 5 years.The proposals include: Improved energy efficiency from 2020 which will lead to a 37% reduction in CO2 from new dwellings, compared with current standards, and save homeowners £180 a year on energy bills (based on a semi-detached home). In addition, all new homes will need to be future-proofed, to make it easier to retrofit low carbon heating systems Phasing out the use of high-carbon fossil fuels and moving to cleaner ways to heat our homes though the introduction of low carbon heating and energy generation, such as renewable energy sources (photovoltaic panels), heat pumps or district heat networks, which involve heating and hot water to multiple buildings from a central heat source Improving energy efficiency thorough introducing measures that limit heat loss and reduce the demand for heat, such as triple glazing and higher standard fabrics for walls, roofs, floors, and windows Improving air quality by ensuring the supply and removal of air to and from a space or spaces in a building provides good air quality. This will also help ensure people's physical well-being is maximised When the new building standards are implemented in full in 2025, homes should produce 75-80% less CO2 emissions than ones built to current requirementsThe consultation on the new proposals closes on the 12 March 2020. View the original press release here.