And in another story about energy efficiency at home, an influential watchdog has said that council taxes should be cut for people that make their homes more energy efficient.

Tax breaks would convince consumers to adopt more environmentally friendly lifestyles, according to the 'Changing climate, changing behaviour: Delivering household energy saving through fiscal incentives' report by the Energy Saving Trust.

The Trust also argues there should be stamp duty rebates for new homes that do not waste fuel.

The main findings suggest council tax and stamp duty land tax (SDLT) rebates are the tax incentives most likely to encourage consumer action, and would also be the policy shifts that could benefit the largest number of householders.

The report reveals that, were a quarter (25%) of the UK's homes to take up an incentive linked to council tax, nearly £10 billion would be saved in lifetime energy bills and nearly one million tonnes of carbon a year could be saved.

And, were the same number to take up an incentive linked to SDLT, over 60,000 tonnes of carbon could be saved a year and householders would cut nearly £650 million from their energy bills over the lifetime of the measures.

Of the measures which could improve at-home energy efficiency, nearly half of householders surveyed said they would be 'quite or very likely' to install cavity wall insulation if they were offered a 75% rebate of the cost of the measures.

Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said, "Reducing household energy consumption is a key factor in the UK meeting its climate change commitments but current policies are simply not providing consumers with the incentives to change their behaviour."

Elliot Morley, minister for climate change and the environment, said: "The government is prepared to consider a wide range of options that may help us meet the challenge of cutting carbon emissions from people's homes, including the potential positive effect of tax incentives on consumer awareness of and demand for better energy efficiency."