Member News
12th December 2011In response to a PoliticsHome article from Greg Barker on the importance of the Green Deal, VELUX praises the government's "solid investment" in combating the UK's carbon emissions.
Like Greg Barker, VELUX believes that the Green Deal provides the foundations for an effective programme to improve the energy efficiency of the UK's existing homes.
The recent promise of an additional £200million of funding to incentivise homeowners to take up the Green Deal marks a solid investment by the government in tackling the UK's carbon emissions.
Many desperate homeowners, who will be caught out by rising energy bills this winter, are likely to turn to the scheme when it launches in autumn next year. However, monetary incentives will not serve as a long term solution to the problem. We need to see a step-change in thought with consumers encouraged to improve the energy efficiency of their homes by being educated about the environmental as well as financial benefits.
At a time of high unemployment the 65,000 new jobs the Green Deal will create are also not to be sniffed at. Similar retrofitting schemes, however, come with a warning after Australia was forced to abandon its own because of a poorly trained labour force. This highlights the need for the government to ensure that only trained, accredited professionals are responsible for the large-scale retrofitting of our homes.
It remains to be seen what energy efficient technologies, beyond simple insulation, will be available to homeowners as part of the Green Deal and we expect clarification of this once the current consultation period comes to a close early next year.
We have previously expressed a need for insulation improvements to be considered as part of a wider sustainable strategy that includes adequate ventilation to promote good health, one of the key principles of our CarbonLight Homes initiative in Rothwell, Kettering.
We will be sharing the results of our monitoring programme of the homes with government and industry in 2013 to help shape the UK's low carbon housing agenda.
The original article from Greg Barker MPwas hosted on PoliticsHome on Friday 9th December.