Solar heating will pay for itself ... if you wait 208 years

There's good news and bad news if you follow the energy-saving advice in your Home Information Pack.

On the positive side, by installing solar heating you'll be helping the planet and start saving money.

But the bad news is that it will take 208 years to recoup your outlay - meaning at least that your great, great, great, great grandchildren should be laughing.

The research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found payback times for energy-saving projects on an average three-bedroom terraced house range from five years for cavity wall insulation to more than 200 years for solar heating.

Those installing double glazing face a 124-year wait while an energy-efficient condensing boiler could take 38 years.

Even a more basic measure such as loft insulation will take 13 years before energy savings amount to the same initial outlay.

Given that we spend an average of 16 years in one property, RICS says we are unlikely to be spurred into shelling out for some of the schemes.

It highlighted VAT as being a major factor in increasing the length of time before homeowners make savings and called for a grants system to make improvements more attractive.

The study heaps yet further controversy on the Government's troubled HIPs scheme.

Jill Craig, RICS head of policy and public affairs, said: "RICS has been calling on Government to reduce the level of VAT applied to all energy-saving measures and to provide an attractive grant program to aid real change.

"If this Government is really serious about combating climate change they have to turn their big talk into even bigger actions.

"Efforts must be focused on the bulk of the housing market, made up of older

homes from the 1920s-1960s, that produce twice as much CO2 as homes built after 1995.

"The Energy Performance Certificates should be applied flexibly to all residential property, not just those that are being bought and sold."

The certificates are supposed to encourage individuals to make energy- saving changes to properties to help reduce carbon emissions.

However, property owners will have an incredibly lengthy wait to get their money back even on more basic measures.

For example, the payback time for loft insulation is 13 years and 38 years for hot water cylinder and pipework insulation.

At present Energy Performance Certificates are compulsory only for homeowners selling their properties, which is thought to account for 6.9 per cent of homes.

The cost of having a house's energy performance assessed is between £100 and £150.

HIPs have been blamed for a 37 per cent fall in the number of family homes coming on to the market.

The packs became compulsory for homes with three bedrooms a month ago and for those with four or more in August.

Estate agents claim the regime is driving sellers out of the market, creating a property famine.

HIPs appear to be driving away the 20 per cent of sellers who have, in the past, put their home on the market "on spec" to see if they can find a buyer or get a good price.

RICS believes HIPs could cause real damage to the property market, which is fragile at the moment.

The market has also slowed down in the wake of higher borrowing costs, caused by five base rate rises in the past year and the impact of the global credit crunch.

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