Locals reject large-scale development

Review of the year

What a year. From the economic doom and gloom to the summer’s riots, social landlords have had their work cut out over the past 12 months. Here, Inside Housing looks back at the highs and lows

A healthy home

Good green housing schemes promote mental and physical well-being - and help save the planet, argues Bill Randall

Government lodges appeal against solar cut ruling

The government has lodged an appeal against last month’s High Court ruling that an early cut to solar subsidies was illegal.

Feed-in tariff cuts could hit landlords

Landlords have warned cuts to payments made for energy from solar panels will discourage the use of renewable power generation.

Easy on the Planet

Foreign intervention

The threat of climate change may not be a big enough priority in most countries, but going green can help to tackle other, more pressing, socio-economic problems, as demonstrated by a retrofit project in South Africa, says Jane Henley

Utopia revisited

As David Cameron seeks to revive the principles of garden cities with a consultation due later this year, Colin Wiles examines how likely it is that his vision will come to fruition

Health check

Can living in an energy-efficient home improve residents’ well-being? Gentoo’s latest retrofit pilot aims to find out. Martin Hilditch reports

How to...

Social landlords can play a big role in improving the energy efficiency of the nation’s homes. But they must lobby hard to ensure ministers understand that they will need support to do so, says Martin Wheatley

Mapping the full footprint

How easily could your organisation calculate its complete carbon footprint? If the answer is ‘not very’, then a new worldwide standard could be just what you need. Elisabeth Jeffries looks at how it works