Government targets for new homes have been demanding both in quantity and in energy efficiency standards, but the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has claimed that they are not impossible to meet.John Slaughter, director of external affairs for the HBF, said The current decline in construction orders will not necessarily affect the housing targets for 2020 at all.He said that in the short term economic problems had led to a decline in housing starts, but added that looking at the medium to longer term picture, theres no reason whatsoever to suggest that that wont strongly underpin a growth in housing output. The many new homes planned in the UK will now need to be built in compliance with government environmental standards demanding that all new homes be made carbon neutral by 2016.Government home energy efficiency targets were introduced to tackle the 27 per cent of UK CO2 emissions originating from households with cooking functions accounting for three per cent and hot water 24 per cent.With sinks responsible for much of hot water use, energy saving households could invest in sinks with deeper bowls like the Franke beach 1.5 Undermount with its 175 mm depth to enable the generous washing up space that requires only a single bout of hot water.