Gordon Brown fails to take Government advice on insulation

Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 12/09/2008

Despite having declared that people should lag their lofts to beat soaring fuel bills, Gordon Brown has not yet made his own home energy efficient.

A study for The Daily Telegraph discovered that just hours after the Prime Minister unveiled the Government's plan to help homeowners save money by conserving fuel, a window at the front of 10 Downing Street was leaking a substantial amount of heat.

Image showing heat loss from Number 10 Downing Street
A No 10 spokesman also admitted that the building's roof had not been insulated.Martin Hosier, of TS Thermal Survey, which advises businesses on insulation, said: "There is considerable heat loss from the basement window."The kitchen or a central heating boiler is the likely source. The equipment may well be inefficient and poorly insulated, and one would have hoped that heat exchanger systems would be in place to retain some of the lost energy for heating elsewhere in the building."
A spokesman for No 10 admitted: "We have taken significant steps to improve our energy efficiency but like many households and businesses there is more we can do.
"We have already replaced our light bulbs with energy efficient fittings and replaced the old heating and cooling systems.
"Fifty per cent of our electricity comes from renewable sources and each evening all PCs are turned off.

"But we plan to do more and are currently looking into insulating the roof spaces and replacing boilers and hot water systems."
She added that Mr Brown's house in Fife is fitted with solar panels.
After moving in last year, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, gave his home in West London a £150,000 environmental makeover.
A wind turbine and solar panels were built on the roof in an attempt to make the family more energy self-sufficient, while the house is fully insulated and double-glazed.
However a study last month suggested that the manufacture of a turbine like Mr Cameron's may produce more carbon dioxide than it goes on to save, because of low wind speeds in urban Britain.
A spokesman for the Tory leader said: "They've had a lot of work done on their house. It's a very important issue for David."