SUSTAINABILITY PART 2
High standards will be crucial from the
first independent home energy assessment to getting the job done by qualified installers. All Green Deal participants will need to carry a ‘quality mark’ so customers know they can be trusted to do a good job. Harland-Khan, CEO of Sustain
Worldwide, said, “The coming Green Deal is a significant piece of legislation that will enable homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient with no upfront cost, which will benefit them financially through lower energy bills and later should they come to sell their property. “Clearly, those homes that have
significant energy efficient improvements will score higher on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which is mandatory when selling a home. “Already, we are beginning to see
Energy from wind turbines can also command a FiT payment.
AffordAble home improvement The RHI will dovetail with the coming Green Deal, which is the next Government promoted initiative to drive domestic renewable energy uptake and to encourage the British public to address their homes’ energy inefficiency. The long-anticipated Green Deal was
green-lighted with the passing on 20 October 2011 of The Energy Act into law. The enactment sets in stone the legal framework for the Green Deal, which will be launched in Autumn 2012. The Green Deal has the ability to
revolutionise the energy efficiency of the nation’s homes and businesses. It will help people insulate against rising energy prices, creating the opportunity to make homes warmer and cheaper to run. The initiative is greatly needed. The
Department of Energy & Climate change has published a report, the Housing Energy Fact File, that highlights that more than half of the 26 million dwellings in Great Britain have insufficient insulation. The Green Deal is the first piece of
legislation worldwide that will remove the upfront cost of energy efficiency measures (like loft, cavity and external wall insulation, draught proofing and energy efficiency glazing and boilers) making expensive home improvement affordable.
Householders will be able to borrow
money at low cost interest rates on Green Deals to have the work undertaken. The newly formed Green Deal Finance Company has the potential to offer a better deal for the consumer and to support healthy competition amongst Green Deal providers including small businesses. Significantly, the energy
saving work undertaken will be repaid over time through a
Solar panels: not pretty but pretty useful.
charge on the home’s energy bill. The repayments must obey a “golden rule” whereby the charge is no more than the expected savings, meaning householders should save from day one.
the homebuyer’s friend Chris Huhne said, “When it’s introduced, the Green Deal will be as easy as ABC by making work affordable, providing bespoke independent advice and choice in the market from well-known and trusted high street names.”
purchasers take a property’s energy efficiency into account when buying a home. As energy bills rise, the launch of the Green Deal will push a property’s energy efficiency ever higher up the buyer’s ‘must have’ checklist.” The key elements to the Act that will
inform the Green Deal will Provide extra financial help for the most vulnerable and hardest to treat homes by getting energy companies to fund work like basic insulation and boiler upgrades as well as helping those living in homes where the cost of the work, like solid wall insulation, may not obey the ‘golden rule’ without extra money to make it affordable.
lAndlords cAn win too It will also improve at least 682,000 privately rented homes. From April 2018 it will be unlawful to rent out a house or business premise which has less than an “E” energy efficiency rating. Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said, “As well as helping
people save money through home energy improvement the Green Deal will be a massive business opportunity.
It’s expected to attract capital investment of up to £15 billion in the residential sector by the end of this decade and at its peak, the Green Deal could support around 250,000 jobs.”
Gordon Miller is the Co-founder and Sustain- ability & Communications Director of membership organisation Sustain Worldwide (
www.sustainworldwide.com).
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www.propertydrum.com/articles/greendeal2
PROPERTYdrum DECEMBER 2011 37
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