The Green Deal: Energy efficient improvements in your home or business.
In todays ever advancing world it’s important that we all do as much as we can to ensure a safe and healthy future for our generations to come, this means ensuring we do as much as we can to save the environment and make sure we leave a lasting legacy for our kids and their kids and future generations. With the world summit on climate change recently it’s becoming increasingly apparent that we are not doing enough to save our planet and governments around the world are starting to realise this and have been or are about to start implementing plans in which we as citizens can help preserve our natural world. Thankfully the government in the UK and EU have been on top of this matter for sometime and have some really fantastic options that will allow us to preserve and conserve as much as we can. Today we will talk about one particular UK initiative that is called The Green Deal – What is it? In short it’s the UK governments countrywide plan to reduce our reliance on current energy sources and how we can reduce our use of those current energy sources while the government invests in future greener and cleaner products. This is available for all households in the UK and is a groundbreaking project by the government and something we will be keeping a close eye on and reporting back on as much as we can. Lets jump straight in then.
What is the Green Deal?
The Green Deal is a worldwide leading project by the United Kingdom government to ensure that all houses are cleaner and greener to run for the environment, this also translates into massive cost savings for the end user. It means that all properties in the future will be warmer and much cheaper to run in terms of monthly bills. The Green Deal scheme has been in place since Autumn 2012 and means that all businesses and households are able to join the scheme and benefit from subsidised energy advice as well as the current ‘pay-as-you-save’ green loans which are to be used exclusively for energy efficient improvements in your home or business. This includes things such as heat pump installations, loft insulation and all other renewable energy technologies. The scheme works on a rebate system and these are paid back through the customers electric bills. A new Energy Company Obligation for disadvantaged groups and hard-to-treat homes will integrate with the Green Deal, allowing an energy supplier subsidy and Green Deal Finance to come together into one seamless offer to the consumer. This means that some measures, such as solid wall insulation, which is classes as ‘hard-to-treat’, may be completely free of charge to the homeowner.
What are the rules?
They’re fairly simple. Set in legislation, the rules specify that any charge attached to a customer’s electricity bill via the installation of Green Deal measures must be less than the expected savings from the improvement. There are always exceptions to the rules though, such as not every installed measure will be able to pay for itself over it’s lifetime, in these cases the owner will be able to contribute to some of the cost to ensure that this one rule can be met.
Why and how should I get involved?
There are numerous benefits to getting involved in this flagship green scheme, not to mention the cost savings but most importantly we can conserve this world we live in. It’s important to note that only certified green deal providers will be able to take part in this scheme, so if you’re considering joining it then it’s important to make sure your contractor is certified to do this. You can contact the government directly for any advice needed or you can use a reliable Green Deal advisor company such as Green Deal Central who can guide you on the best course of action to take.
We wish you all the best with your new green living decision and we hope you pass this information on so others like you can help to conserve this amazing world we live in.