Whether buying organic vegetables, using biodegradable washing powder or recycling rubbish, we all like to think that we do our bit for the environment. When it comes to buying a new home, however, it seems few of us are ready to put our money where our mouth is.

A small number of especially eco-conscious buyers such as David Cameron, the Conservative leader, may be ready to fit wind turbines and solar panels to their homes (even B&Q now sells them), but most people, it seems, will go green only if it saves them money.

Research by Savills, the estate agency, has found buyers will pay extra for homes with good thermal insulation and energy-saving features because they know it will mean lower heating bills — but not for ecofriendly building materials or good public transport links that reduce reliance on the car.

“Energy efficiency is important to people, but it’s really all about saving money rather than the planet,” says Yolande Barnes, director of Savills Research. “Aspirations — a better property in a better neighbourhood with better schools — remain the biggest market driver, so eco-excellence has to go hand in hand with quality. It is not enough by itself.”

Constructing and maintaining and living in our homes accounts for 28% of UK carbon dioxide emissions, according to government figures. The average “old” house loses an estimated 35% of its heat through the walls, 25% through the roof, 25% through windows and doors and 15% through the floor.

New properties are “greener” than older ones because of the raft of tougher building regulations introduced in recent years. From next June, every home that goes on sale in England and Wales must have an Energy Performance Certificate — which will rate its efficiency from A-G, just like with a refrigerator, washing machine or dishwasher.

Industry experts say developers are often unwilling, however, to go beyond minimum standards because of what they perceive as the reluctance of buyers of new homes to pick up the tab.

So how expensive is it to build green? Richard Hodkinson, an engineering consultant who specialises in sustainable housebuilding methods, says costs can be up to 20% higher than standard construction. “Developers are having to absorb the extra cost because it isn’t coming through as a green premium,” he says.

Barratt Homes, Britain’s second biggest volume builder, is conducting an experiment in a bid to brush up its green credentials. The seven houses at its EcoSmart Show Village at Chorley in Lancashire look like every other Barratt home until you notice the little details: a roof-mounted wind turbine here, a photovoltaic (PV) panel there and pipes for harvesting rainwater everywhere.

None is on sale. Instead, over the next 18 months, they will be used to assess the merits and drawbacks of various technologies — and crucially, whether potential homebuyers are prepared to pay for them.

“The key challenge for us will be how we can incorporate as many environmentally friendly features as possible while keeping the properties at a price customers can afford,” says David Pretty, Barratt’s chief executive.

The “green features” on the company’s four-bedroom Buckingham house at the EcoSmart Village, for example, will add about £7,500 to the cost — although helping cut carbon emissions by two tons a year, they will cut energy bills by only £360, meaning it will take more than 20 years to recoup the initial cost.

Other developers have already taken the plunge, however. Redrow, for example, picked up the Building Research Establishment’s (BRE) EcoHomes award this year for its starter homes at Willans Green, Rugby, Warwickshire, where a one-bedroom flat can be snapped up for as little as £54,995. The properties are based on a lightweight steel frame, said to be more energy efficient, and boast communal heating and hot water systems.

Critics argue volume developers put too much effort into headline-grabbing ecofriendly pilot schemes and not enough into improving mainstream properties with the addition of simple — if less glamorous — features such as low-energy lighting, dual-flush lavatories, smaller washbasins and baths and space in the kitchen for recycling bins.

“It is rather like having a face-lift when you are still 20 stones overweight,” says Deborah Brownhill, BRE’s commercial director. “What we need to see is developers trying a little bit with all houses as opposed to a lot with a few flagship projects.”

Julian Brooks, who runs the Greenmoves website, which advertises energy-efficient homes for sale, believes the big housebuilders will address environmental issues when forced to.

“We need a big building project that has gone hell-for- leather for eco-standards regardless of cost, and has succeeded commercially,” he says. “Once we have that, we can prove there is a business case for going green.”

• Greenmoves, 01308 455 715, www.greenmoves.com
  
  

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