A ‘Green Deal’ or a ‘very confusing deal’?

There is an awfully large percentage of UK homes which are very energy inefficient. Energy won’t be getting cheaper anytime soon so something will have to be done.
Anyone can get heavily grant subsidised (or even free) loft and cavity insulation which would save them a small fortune over time, but its surprizing how many people still don’t go for it. Scare stories about CWI causing damp, poor quality installation and even the reluctance of people to clear their loft of junk may be some of the reasons. Or perhaps Gas and Electricity just isn’t expensive enough yet for people to take notice, but give it a year or two, it will be.
Bigger ticket improvements like solid wall insulation, heat pumps, new boilers etc. although already state subsidised to a degree still leave the home owner with a very hefty cost to cover.
A “Green Deal” loan could work provided the terms are correctly worked out. But there has to be an immediate benefit to the home owner or people just won’t go for it.
I think linking the loan to the property is a good fist step. People who move don’t have to carry the mill stone of a loan with them. Next I’d suggest allowing the home owner to keep say half the energy bill savings and use the other half to repay the loan. An incentive, without which why would most people do it, there would be no immediately visible gain?
Problem is if only half the saving is used the Green loan repayment period might be longer than the life of the new energy efficient installation, so that might not work unless this is overcome by there also being more state subsidy and very low repayment interest. I doubt that will happen.
Then there is the issue of installers captitalising on this initiative. An example being the recent boiler scrappage scheme. “Approved” outfits like British Gas would install a new boiler for well over £2000 then say £400 is knocked off the price through the scrappage scheme, but a “non-scheme-approved” independant Gas Safe plumber could often install for £1500 or less without any £400 scrappage allowance?
Regretably the only spur that will really get many many people to start taking notice and improve the energy efficiency of their homes will be ever increasing energy costs and without help that will hit the poorest and most vunerable very hard.
I hope the Government gets the “Green Deal” detail right so there is incentive, improvement and fairness for all, but based on track record to date I expect another less than fair and poorly thought out “Green wash”.
I hope I’m wrong.

Interesting – This in effect the same deal as PFI (the deal to pay for rebuilding our schools) that this “government” decided was “expensive and inefficient” and so new school building was scrapped with enormous effect on Councils and school children

But somehow it is fine to use the same system – without guarantees or clarity – to “Green-ise” homes.

If we have to rely on the Private Sector cowboys then it will just be another waste on our money, as the un-educated will be taken for a ride and everyone else will keep well away.

My cavity wall insulation double glassing and loft insulation are all more than thirty years old. I will soon be in my seventies.
Although my house in theory is energy effective does the Green deil recognise the useful life of say double glassing?

The saving in reduction of energy use by 2020 mentioned yesterday on TV of a third by the government is not realistic a lot has already been done by the public, a reduction of a third is just to much, designs of existing housing in many cases does not allow for changes to be made to properties within viable costs, certainly without changes to planning laws. Current properties being built now are not energy efficient they need a radical change to building regulation regarding thermal efficiency. Whenever the government comes up with grants etc they won’t give them to householders to do the work, only to a recognized list of companies which charge too much for the work, and often the work is not to a good standard because the people carrying out the work have not had the training and often don’t care enough about quality. It is cheaper to do the work yourself if you are able for less than you would be charged by these companies, effectively these companies absorb the grants and more. So if the government wants to do something improve the current build quality of new homes, but the won’t do that as they THINK it increases the cost!