Green Deal is the biggest ever energy home improvement programme

For the Coalition Government, tackling climate change, securing our future energy supplies and making an ambitious transition to a low carbon, high growth economy is an urgent and vital task, writes Greg Barker, MP, Energy & Climate Change Minister.

Energy efficiency lies at the very heart of our strategy. It means being smarter about the energy we use – making the most of a precious resource and eliminating waste.

As families and businesses face rising energy bills, the cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use. In a world of increasing energy prices, market volatility and reliance on imports, being efficient with energy has never been more important.

Growing numbers of families and households are struggling to pay their energy bills. We estimate this year up to 4.1m households will be in fuel poverty in England alone.

On top of this, the UK building stock is among the most inefficient in the world and responsible for 43% of total UK emissions in 2009.  Homes and businesses across Britain are wasting energy and money, yet demand for energy efficiency measures remains low as many people cannot afford the upfront costs or lack confidence in the quality of the work.

This is where the Green Deal comes in. It will be the biggest home energy improvement programme of modern times addressing the urgent need for a step-change in our approach to energy efficiency in existing domestic and commercial buildings. This will be critical to meeting our carbon emissions and fuel poverty targets.

This is a special article by Greg Barker, MP, for the National Home Improvement Council. Charles Phillips of the Department of Energy & Climate Change is to give a special Green Deal talk to the NHIC Member’s Forum on 15th February 2012 – more info tanyacoutts@nhic.org.uk

Full article:

• You can read Greg Barker’s full article on Green Deal here.

Related pages:

• The NHIC Green Deal Page