Green Deal or no deal

Dave Timms

27 June 2013

Among today's news is this: just 245 households are taking out the Government's much-touted Green Deal energy-efficiency loans and only four have so far signed on the dotted line. This confirms our analysis that the scheme just isn't up to the job of improving the UK's cold and drafty homes. 

The Government says it's early days and things will get better (well they couldn't get worse). Yes, the numbers taking out a Green Deal will grow, but even if it eventually meets their expectations, insulation rates won't be enough to meet climate targets. 

The scheme was absurdly over-hyped from the start. Ministers talked about it unleashing a market to transform the housing stock. That was never going to happen.

For years we've warned of the policy's inherent limitations. It might work for some - and with lower interest rates it could work for many more. But it should only be one part of a comprehensive strategy of policies - including other financing options, incentives, regulations and street by street delivery. 

The Committee on Climate Change yesterday raised concern that there is a growing gap between what the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation might achieve and carbon reduction in the housing stock.

Our friends at the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) have just come up with the jaw-dropping comparison below. It compares insulation rates this time last year under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), this year under the Green Deal and ECO (the red bars) - and the level the CCC recommends to meet our carbon reduction targets.

Installations of all three key measures are down 88% compared to the first 4 months of last year.

None of this should detract from the fact that energy efficiency is a great deal for you and the planet - even if a Green Deal loan might not be. So Friends of the Earth would encourage everyone to investigate what can be done to their home to make it warm, low carbon and cheaper to heat.
 
But many people live in rented accommodation or can't afford the initial cost of energy efficiency measures. And if the Green Deal loan doesn't stack up or their landlord isn't willing, they are literally left in the cold.

More than 4.5 million UK households are unable to heat their homes properly. Medical research we commissioned from Prof Sir Michael Marmot at University College London showed that living in a cold home has a dramatic impact of the health or the young and old. 

Yet according to the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) government funding for energy efficiency schemes for those on low incomes has been slashed, and rules we are campaigning for to ensure landlords improve dangerously cold properties won't come into effect for several years. Even then they could contain some pretty large loopholes.

That's why Friends of the Earth is one of the founders of the Energy Bill Revolution coalition. The coalition is calling on the Government to use its growing revenue from carbon taxes and trading to fund a national home energy-efficiency programme up to the job of hitting climate targets and ending fuel poverty. More than 130 organisations have joined us.

If you haven't already done so, please sign our petition to end the scandal of cold homes once and for all. And if you have signed, why not ask your MP to sign it too?

You can also read more about what our Director Andy Atkins and Energy Minister Greg Barker MP think of the Green Deal on the Guardian's website. Here's a clue: they don't agree.