Green Deal Bids To Cut Carbon Emissions From British Homes

The Green Deal is the UK government's bid to reduce carbon emissions by radically improving the energy efficiency of British households.

As with any new initiative, it needs a show-stopping headline to get attention, and in the case of The Green Deal, it's the promise of having up £10,000 of energy-efficient improvements made to any home without any upfront costs.

The plan being that repayments will be paid from monthly energy bills, which should be the same as before, with the savings made by the new installed green products offset against the debt of purchase.

Note, the words 'should' and 'plan', as the scheme doesn't start until October, but that hasn't stopped a Green Deal industry emerging since the plan was launched in the 2011 Energy Bill by the Conservative Government.

The industry from the customer's point of view will come down to Green Deal Advisors and Green Deal Installers or providers.

The first will, on invitation, inspect a household and carry out an assessment of the home's energy efficiency or otherwise.

This will then be used by the householder to 'commission' the Green Deal Installers to carry out work up to £10,000 in the home.

The act doesn't mention anything about what happens if the work required to make the home more efficient comes in at beyond £10,000.

Among the key energy saving services offered by Green Deal installers to UK homeowners will be loft insulation to trap heat within the house rather than exiting through the roof, cavity wall insulation for preventing heat loss through the walls and external wall insulation.

However, there will be more modern energy saving measures on offer, such as solar PV panels to produce electricity and solar thermal for the heating of water.

Additionally, if considered relevant by the initial assessor, air source pumps could be introduced, which convert heat in the air into energy.

These tend to cost between £5-10,000 but make energy savings on the cost of previous bills up to £610 per annum. Clearly, the repayment on the deal could be scheduled to take some time, but the 'golden rule floated with the Green Deal is that repayments won't be more than savings.

However, one oversight appears to be that warranties for work carried out by Green Deal providers are not linked to the length of the loan, which is sure to increase the costs for those unfortunate to have new installations which don't last the course.

Grumbles aside, the Green Deal is a bold move by the UK government to gain traction among homeowners to take up energy efficient products to cut carbon emissions.

Whether it proves to be a resounding success or flawed plan remains to be seen but no action in this area would be considered an even greater failure.