How to prepare for the Green Deal

By now it’s evident from all the noise that Government is making that the Green Deal really is coming. But the question remains:  How do you prepare for the Green Deal?

Let us look at this from both sides, domestic and commercial, even though a lot of the same principles will apply to both sectors.

For the domestic market there is going to be a wealth of information and that is one of the main reasons we started this Green Deal Blog;  to cut through some of the rhetoric and get to the bare facts. Which leads us on to our main piece of advice; be aware of the facts. If you can understand the principles behind the overall scheme as well as some of the mechanisms  like: The Golden Rule you’ll  be ahead of the game.  As our Spanish friend Miguel de Cervantes once said:  ‘Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory’. Ok you’re not going into battle, but when you see the avalanche of PR the Government is about to unleash it will feel  like you are battling to keep up with the facts.

If you have a property which would benefit from insulation then do a little research into the various options that are available and the savings you might expect to get back. An assessor will be assigned to work out the best options for your particular property but there is no harm in understand the benefits and interoperating their findings.

For the commercial sector some of the decisions are going to be based more on the scale of the savings and speed of the returns.  Businesses have to be aware that some of the more expensive measures might take longer to recoup and balance that with their long term business needs.  Let us imagine a small printing firm, they might realise that a lot of their out goings are on electricity to run their printing presses.  So micro generation might be an obvious choice for them, but because of the amount of Solar PV panels that would be needed might not be feeizble to fit PV panels. Solar PV panels a costly and need a lot of space to harness the sunlight. These initial costs will make the return that much harder to achieve.

One of the areas that the commercial sector should find encouraging is the emphasis placed on controls. Both heating and lighting controls are included in the Green Deal and so it’s more to do with making the most out of your current infrastructure. This is where the Green Deal  Assessors will come to the fore by being able to work with businesses on their best options.

All of this is without considering the market price fluctuations in energy prices, which can be the one of the biggest overheads in some commercial properties. As prices fluctuate over the years the businesses need to have some way of cushioning the impact of these changes. The Green Deal has one unique feature that should attract both domestic and commercial customers alike: no up front costs.

In Summary:

• Know what is included in the Green Deal and what isn’t covered.
• Know your current costs for heating and lighting your building
• Consider what you want to achieve for your business and how much your particular business is affected by energy prices. (commercial sector only)

Hopefully by highlighting some of these areas has given you some food for thought. The Green Deal is an opportunity for domestic customers to save some money and improve their homes.  For commercial properties it’s a chance to not only save money but also protect some businesses from energy market price fluctuations.