The Green Deal is aiming to help over 60,000 homes become more energy efficient and allowing for these improvements to be made through a charge on electricity bills as an incentive. However the government is considering a training scheme for specialist Green Deal assessors to deal with older homes due to fear that green energy installations could harm traditional buildings. Douglas Kent from the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), said the body is in discussions with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) over the idea. Other traditional buildings experts say that attaching modern non-porous insulation to breathable solid-wall buildings could lead to damp problems as well as other damage and also be hazardous to health for residents.
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Green Deal potentially hazardous for old homes and calls for specialist assessors
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Coalition governement discouraging investment in green construction
The construction industry is becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of growth and public investment for green construction under current government policies. Think tank Edge criticised the government’s financial approach and wrote to chancellor George Osborne ”Recent announcements have not only directly damaged businesses gearing up to deliver a low carbon built environment, but critically have jeopardised confidence in the robustness and longevity of other government carbon reduction programmes.”
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Energy Procurement Contract EPC
Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is a performance-based procurement method and financial mechanism whereby the savings made on utility bills by installing more sustainable and energy efficient building systems pay for the cost of the project.
There are many benefits to Energy Performance Contracting including;
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BRE proposes downgrading credit given to heat pumps for reducing buildings environmental impact
Building Research Establishment (BRE) has made proposals to downgrade the assessment of heat pumps environmental impact on buildings which could potentially make them less attractive to the industry.
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Government FIT budget £31m in red
The government’s budget for the solar feed-in-tariff (FIT) has been reported to be £31m in the red. Latest figures show that the £94m budget for 2011-2012 for solar subsidy is already overspent by 30%. This comes after the government’s controversial decision to halve the FIT which is being challenged in the courts.
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