Hackney Council’s publicly-owned energy services company has launched a scheme offering free home insulation for privately-owned and rented homes.

Hackney Light and Power's Green Homes programme is offering thermal efficiency measures, including cavity, loft and floor insulation on a first-come, first-served basis no matter what their inhabitants' income.

The measures could lower energy bills for thousands of residents and reduce the gases produced by heating our homes, which are contributing to the climate emergency.

The scheme is funded by the Energy Company Obligation - a government energy efficiency scheme to reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty, the Greater London Authority's warmer homes fund and the council's carbon offset fund.

The free insulation is subject to home surveys and it is not means-tested because of the council's aim to insulate as many homes as possible to reduce carbon emissions across the borough.

Further renewable heating upgrades, like hydrogen fuel-cell boilers, air-to-air heat pump or new window glazing will be subject to means-tested eligibility criteria.

The programme is also set to trial innovative new renewable heating upgrades, like hydrogen fuel-cell boilers which produce no carbon dioxide, and air-to-air heat pumps, which use warmth from the air outside to heat radiators and water, and can be used as a cooler during the summer.

The Committee on Climate Change has stated this technology will be essential to meet national commitments to net zero emissions.

The council's energy chief Cllr Jon Burke said: "In passing a climate emergency motion, we not only committed to tell the truth to the public about the scale of the environmental crisis but, crucially, we committed to urgent decarbonisation action across our full range of functions.

"Whether cleaning up our fleet of vehicles, decarbonising the waste system, cleaning up the energy system, or delivering the largest urban tree planting programme in the country, Hackney Council is demonstrating that not only is urgent action necessary, but that it's also possible.

In June the council passed an emergency motion to deliver a 45 per cent reduction in carbon emissions relative to 2010 levels by 2030, and deliver net zero emissions by 2040.

Email shine@hackney.gov.uk or call 0800 281 768 to sign up to the Hackney Green Homes programme.