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The Green Deal and the Wider Picture
How the Government is trying to tackle climate change and ignite a new industry.
Energy Efficiency
The Green Deal is going to squarely aimed at making homes and businesses more energy efficient. There are a multitude of benefits to doing this, for example: Less power generation needed so less reliance on power stations to produce energy which in turn leads to less exposure to international energy prices.
In the Governments shiny new Energy Efficiency Strategy document they quote the American Secretary Of Energy Stephen Chu:
“Energy efficiency is not just low-hanging fruit; it is fruit that is lying on the ground”
This is drumming in the notion that this is a relatively easy win to achieve. But as we know in the UK that is easier said than done. Our long and rich history has produced a plethora of different buildings and construction techniques that are going to take individual attention and assessment to find the best possible solutions.
What we at the Green Deal Initiative have found is that people are hungry for this revolution and want to get on with making their homes and businesses more energy efficient. One of the biggest driving factors isn’t the Government it’s the energy prices, people are being driven to find alternatives to heating and lighting because the costs have just become too high to sustain, this is what will drive interest in the Green Deal more than any other factor and this is what is driving most commercial ventures to invest in this sector, the returns that can be achieved by switching to green technologies are huge and everyone wants to grab a slice of the action.
Fuel Poverty
“The scale of the challenge is daunting. Within Government, although DECC has the clearest interest in fuel poverty, tackling it cannot be the task of a single Department.
The problem is one affecting health, poverty, communities, and climate change. Tackling it successfully will require many parts of Government to be involved.” John Hills Getting the Measure of Fuel Poverty
The other knock on effect of the Green deal will be to help people get out of fuel poverty which is set to increase as energy prices increase. John Hills’s excellent report high lights the effects that fuel prices have on our society and what can be done to effectively change the current norms.
Fuel poverty is something that affects millions (between 2.6 and 3 million households in the UK) of people and the Green Deal is going to have a tiny impact on this massive problem, but it will have effect, which is positive move by Government.
Jobs
There is a fantastic opportunity to increase the amount of people who work in Green Industries. The Solar Panel market is an example of where Government and industry can create and sustain jobs for years to come. The massive caveat here is that the Government has learnt how not to do things, earlier this year two solar companies took the Government to court over cutting the Feed In tariff for solar panels, and is looking at a more sustainable model for the future. A recent survey suggested that over 74% of Brits want MORE solar power, again this underlines the public mood for these new technologies.
As the price of energy increases the more jobs are created within the alternative energy sector. If the Government was committed to producing more jobs it could look at the subsidies that are still given to fossil fuels in this country and that would seriously kick start this ‘Green Economy’.
The Companies
We at the Green Deal Initiative are committed to getting you as much information as possible about the Green Deal and have designed and built a directory of Companies that are going to be involved in the Green Deal. Have a look at the listings that can be found under the Assessor page, the Provider page and the Installer pages and see what you can achieve for your needs.
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