The Green Deal: Relieving A Few Winter Blues

As winter draws in, the heating in households across Britain is cranked up and the already shameful amount of energy being wasted increases. This results in harmful carbon emissions being released into the atmosphere. The fact is that homes across the UK simply aren’t efficient enough. Things such as poor insulation, single glazing windows and old boilers mean that houses cannot retain heat without using an unnecessary amount of energy.

This is where the Green Deal comes in. Set to launch on 28^th January 2013, the Green Deal is a government initiative that is said to be ‘the biggest home-improvement scheme since the Second World War’. The scheme aims to fix homes up to be energy efficient without forcing any upfront cost on property owners. The process will involve a Green Deal-accredited assessor visiting a property and surveying it for its inefficiencies. The assessor will then advise the property owner on what measures should be taken to fix these.

The UK government has set a target for the carbon emissions being released into the atmosphere to be reduced by 80% by the year 2050. If this is going to be achieved, the introduction of a major scheme like the Green Deal is vital. Furthermore, fuel poverty in Britain is rising rapidly, which simply cannot be allowed to happen. Fuel poverty is when a household spends over 10% of its income on energy bills. This can be stopped by improving homes and making them much cheaper to keep warm.

Of course, many people would love to make their homes more comfortable and increase their value by going through with improvements such as these, but cannot afford to. Green Deal finance allows property owners to pay for these improvements in monthly instalments through their energy bills. There is a Green Deal ‘golden rule’ that states that the money a property owner pays for home-improvements will only ever be allowed to equate to, or be less than, the money they save on energy bills. Therefore, homeowners can rejoice in happier homes and a healthier environment without causing any damage to their bank balances! It is also important to be aware of the fact that the Green Deal Loan is attached to the property and not the person.

To find out more about the Green Deal, visit the Green Deal hub website here.