We’re increasingly being told about the environmental impact buildings can have on the climate, not least from people like Prince Charles. So it may come as a surprise that the least eco-friendly building in London has been revealed as being good old Buckingham Palace.

The Queen’s des res scored 0 out of 10 in a survey of 170 buildings in London by renewable energy firm Navitron. They were exploring the energy efficiency of buildings in the capital city and many were found to be woefully inadequate. By using thermal imaging techniques, they were able to see how well insulated the buildings were – or were not – and whether heat was contained within the buildings or madly escaping.

The thermal imaging survey of Buckingham Palace revealed it to be a hotbed of activity. Rather than heat being contained within the Palace, it was shown to be pouring out through the building in every area possible – through the roof, the walls, through curtained windows and even through cracks.

As it was built in 1820 and contains over 600 rooms, it’s not surprising that the Palace is experiencing problems with energy efficiency. The Queen has, however, apparently set up an energy-saving committee to try and tackle the problems and reduce consumption.

But it wasn’t only the Queen’s residence that was problematic. It was only last month that the Government launched a new scheme aimed at helping households reduce their emissions by 50% by the year 2050, yet some of the key Government buildings in London, such as the Ministry of Defence, MI6 HQ, the Treasury and the Home Office, were all found to be major polluters.

The full list of top 12 non-green and leakiest buildings in London is as follows:

1. Buckingham Palace
2. DECC (Defra)
3. The Ministry of Defence
4. Horse Guards Barracks
5. The Shell Building
6. The Home Office
7. Houses of Parliament
8. The Treasury
9. Portcullis House
10. MI6 HQ
11. The Albert Hall
12. St James’ Palace

If you’d like to try and reduce energy emissions in your home and make it more eco-friendly, then some simple ways of making a difference include swapping single glazing (as in the palace) for double glazing, improving draught-proofing in your home, using energy-saving light bulbs and turning off lights when you’re not in a room. For more ideas, take a look at our guide to energy saving.

Lists, London

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.