A retro-fit offers many benefits: cutting electricity and heating bills, increasing the resale value of homes, slashing carbon emissions and creating a healthier place to live. This book is the guide to making it happen. It looks at: draught-proofing, insulation and damp ventilation, heating and cooling electrical efficiency and renewable energy water use and re-use materials' life cycles and incorporating nature protection from climate change impacts - modelling energy flows and embodied energy how we can meet the need to cut carbon emissions from dwellings by eighty percent by 2050.Projects can apply to apartment blocks, recent builds and older, solid-walled properties. Enlivened with helpful diagrams and photographs, plus plenty of pointers for further information, it provides a comprehensive resource handbook for any building professional and contractor, students - or any homeowner serious about efficiency (cash and carbon) savings.

David Thorpe lives in the Dyfi Valley, mid-Wales and has been the News Editor of Energy and Environmental Management magazine for ten years. Prior to that he was Managing Editor and author at the Centre for Alterative Technology, where he edited The Whole House Book among many other titles. He writes a popular blog - The Low Carbon Kid - and for the Guardian online.

Introduction 1. Airtightness: Reducing Energy Demand for Heating and Cooling 2. Insulation Materials 3. Insulation Strategies 4. Going All The Way - Towards Passivhaus 5. Windows and Doors 6. Ventilation, Cooling and Heating 7. Water Management 8. Electricity Efficiency and Supply 9 . Contextual Issues