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Opening doors to eco refurbishment
Last summer I enjoyed a whistle stop tour of Oliver Heath’s ‘SuperHome’. This renovated 1960s house is a great example of eco refurbishment and modernisation working hand in hand. Not only is the house more comfortable and less carbon intensive – it is also better looking, as the before and after photos testify.
SuperHomes are older properties refurbished by their owners to reduce carbon emissions by at least 60%. Luckily, these pioneering homeowners also invite the public to attend free open days. These offer a great opportunity to explore the type of green technologies that could be eligible for the Green Deal as it becomes available in the coming months.
SuperHomes is the original green open homes network with 138 homes across the UK, but it is no longer alone. Local open home initiatives are now in Bristol, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Dorchester, Forest of Dean, Lewes, Southampton, Stroud, Suffolk, Wilmslow and Worthing to name but a few.
The enthusiasm of these homeowners is really encouraging. As I discovered, it’s only when you visit a refurbished home that the tangible benefits of eco refurbishment really sink in. It helps to feel, touch and observe the difference.
In 2009, 38% of UK emissions were produced from heating and powering homes and buildings. As most buildings existing today will still be in use in 2050, we must act. The government is committed to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2050 and making our homes and offices more energy efficient is going to play a significant part in achieving this emissions reduction target. In fact, by 2050 all buildings will need to have an emissions footprint close to zero.
So, it is really encouraging that we can visit older properties like architect John Christopher’s SuperHome in Birmingham where the 2050 standard has already been achieved! Even with today’s technologies, zero carbon is possible.
With the Green Deal, Feed in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive, the policy drivers are falling into place.
The Green Deal will help householders make energy saving improvements to keep their homes warm and cosy and will be able to pay for some or all of the work done with expected savings on energy bills. All who adopt measures will benefit from increased comfort, reduced impact on the environment and added protection against upswings in energy prices.The private sector, local councils and housing associations are mobilising to support and deliver major retrofit programmes across the UK. Through DECC’s support for seven cities across England & Wales, announced this week, we expect to see lots of new examples of homes that have made energy saving improvements appearing over the coming months.
The change won’t happen overnight and we want to get it right. We’ll see improvements to the fabric of buildings to reduce energy consumption, plus growth in renewable energy to reduce our dependence on expensive imported fossil fuels.
Energy efficiency needn’t just be about saving money. It’s about greener, healthier, lifestyles with elevated levels of comfort and amenity. In short, it can be about abundance rather than scrimping and saving.
The New Year will be an exciting new phase for retrofitting our homes. With SuperHomers and other green open home networks providing inspiration, and businesses gearing up to deliver the Green Deal it is time to get excited.You can visit 10 London SuperHomes over 22/23 September. See the SuperHomes website for details.
11 Responses to “Opening doors to eco refurbishment”
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[...] an opportunity for local residents to see for themselves the benefits refurbishment can deliver. Collaboration between the Local Authority and SuperHomes, supported by Green Deal Pioneer Places funding, helped this come [...]
Received email today with links to Green Deal guide pdf’s. I checked on availability of assessors in or around North Devon and there are none. When I telephoned Energy Saving Advice Service as to why this was I was informed that they had no idea of when assessors would come forward. Surely this should have been addressed much earlier and ready for the Jan 2013 start.
Also as I understand it from the Energy Secretary’s online chat a couple of weeks ago the interest rate is likely to be around 7.8%. If you look at the following article referencing Germany’s Green Deal it appears to be very successful because their government
is putting more money into its Green Investment Bank and it finances at 2.0%. http://bit.ly/X1eZY6
All in all the start of the domestic aspect of Green Deal seems to be a bit doomed.
1 October has arrived and what a thoroughly disappointing event for domestic users. There is still no contact information for queries about the ‘Green Deal’. This site is a lot of pseudo green mumbo jumbo. People playing with spreadsheets and going on public funded trips. If you want to participate – have you seen the ‘map’ – what a disgrace. Do you not understand who the most needy people are? This is obviously about a bunch of people sitting in offices – with the usual wall around them – so that no one can ask a question. Probably because it will be passed from pillar to post. What a disgrace. I think the proverbial ‘pull your head out .. ‘ applies.
From October 2012 Green Deal approved and accredited assessors and installers are able to begin operating as an initial market develops – for example by offering accredited assessments and installation services – that consumers may want to take forward at their own expense or may wish to pursue from January 2013 when Green Deal plans are available.
Green Deal providers will be able to offer Green Deal plans to consumers from 28 January 2013 and we expect the number of offers available to build from there as more providers enter the market.
DECC have produced fact sheets that fully reflect the insight/ recommendations from the DECC Consumer Research Report How to Explain the Green Deal. They highlight the availability of free and impartial advice through the Energy Saving Advice Service helpline. The guidance will be published online shortly.
To get help or for free impartial advice call the Energy Saving Advice Service (England , Scotland and Wales) on 0300 123 1234 or visit http://www.Direct.gov.uk/GreenDeal.
Would it not be great if DECC actually engaged with the very serious points made by these respondents.
It is quite clear that the current ‘deal’ will at best scratch the surface of what is actually necessary, perhaps 2 million houses out of the 26 million that need it.
The planet has already warmed by 0.8C with another 0.8 worth of CO2 equivalent in the atmosphere. To avoid utter disaster we have 0.4C additional increase to play with.
The currently known and recoverable reserves of fossil fuels will, if burnt, produce four times more CO2 that is required to reach the absolute upper limit of +2C.
Of course, once 2C are reached, 6C becomes inevitable, regardless what the human race does, due to several natural positive feedback loops that will be triggered by the 2C increase.
+6C = most of the planet surface turning into desert.
I conclude that we are in death struggle for the future of human civilisation on this planet… and the Government talk about ‘golden rules’, burning more gas, dragging their feet on renewables, nuclear, tide lagoons, … and … superinsulation.
Pathetic
SuperHome owner, having reduced our CO2 emissions by 119%.
SuperHomes – commendable but the Gov’t is fiddling while the UK burns. As prime minister Churchll said before World War 11 – Where are the (warrior)Generals to rally the troupes to fight the fight; all he had was desk-bound pen-pushing admin wallas. Likewise in 2012, God help us for we have no chance of making the 2050 80% reduction Target at this rate of well-meaning but pathetic effort.
The Green Deal will fail or grossly underperform because it is conceptually & fundamentally flawed. Why/How:-
1. It is a fiscal device to transfer the burden from the public Gov’t &/or Utility company purse and into the private purse of the Bill Payer. Conservative policy and Treasury driven.
2. Why is the War on Carbon being left to the predilection of heavy-usage individual Bill Payers. When we swopped to NaturalnGas, the choice was: swop or you will be cut off. When we swopped to Digital, analogue as switched off. No predilection there. A national issue dealt with on a national basis.
3. Why is the cost of property improvements being passed from the Owner onto the Bill Payer (usually the Occupier)? This is pertinent for Tenants who will land up paying for the property improvements of the Owner/Landlord.
4. Why would someone disrupt there home when there is no financial gain? !Yes, the Golden Rule is to ensure that the finance charge does not exceed the savings but the pay-back period can be upto 15yrs; so no gain so why bother.
5. What happens when a property is transferred from a high-usage occupant who had installed and could justify high cost impovements to a low-usage new occupant/bill payer. They will be burdened with what in effect will be a higher standing charge.
6. This ‘higher standing charge’ for upto 15yrs will mitigate against, where needed, occupants/bill payers ability to reduce their fixed household/business costs- another disincentive to participate in the Scheme.
The trouble is that when this Green Deal concept was conceived, the Localism Agenda was in full swing and the Gov’t has got stuck on this hook. So now we have an urgent global, international, national issue to Cut Carbon just being implemented by a relatively small number of interested high-usage Bill Payers, It is ridiculous; and the sooner the Gov’t grasps the nettle and makes and assists property owners to make their properties Fit-for- Occupancy, the sooner the better. The law already requires it for the provision of utilities and their appliances and a sound building fabric; and so why not to Cut Carbon.
Roger Parker
Commercial Energy Assessor
Eco Homes are a commendable achievement, but how much credit can be attributed to the grants and policies that help to fund them, and how much to the dedication and passion of the home owner is the real question here.
This article is a really a plug for these policies and especially the Green Deal which seems a little dubious.
While the Green Deal is innovative and well meant, there are serious concerns. The greatest being that the home owner cannot chose the company that fits the measure! Is there a precedent for a loan on a product where the customer cannot chose who provides the product?
The choice is made by the Green Deal Provider; the organisation providing the finance package. Either they are are financier and so what do they know about installing energy saving measures, or they are a energy installation company providing financing so what do they know about financing?
While this is a slightly facetious question to illustrate the point, the real and very worrying problem is that by giving this power to the Provider the consumer is looses all transparency in the process, and is likely to loose trust in the Green Deal.
Why not simply allow people to get their own quotes from the installers of their choice and then (assuming they meet the Golden Rule) get the Green Deal package applied to these?
That’s how a real market works.
We expect a number of Green Deal Providers to adopt a model where they provide access to finance for SME’s but play a more passive role and allow the installer to market the Green Deal through their existing customer networks.
Providing an installer is plugged into the Green Deal through this business model (and Green Deal authorised), then the home owner could choose them to install the measure.
The ‘Green Deal’ will fail for these reasons:-
1 The purported £10,000 available in the GD is not enough for sufficient work to be done.
2 The GD Golden Rule requires an economically viable solution to individual installations
3 People are unwilling to spend money in the current climate of financial uncertainty
4 Interest will be charged on the sum borrowed, which will probably double the repayments over the period of the loan.
5 The workings of the GD are too slow to address the problem as it is market led.
6 Take up has to be very strong to get the numbers needed and currently there is no incentive for this.
Of the 26 million houses that urgently require conversion, this scheme may possibly help 2 million. Far, far too little to make a difference:
In the first case above, the sum available is not enough to address the 80% reduction in fossil fuel use required by the Kyoto commitment. To address this reduction a huge increase in the insulation standard of all the building stock is required. In an older solid walled house it would be necessary to install insulation to the walls, the capital cost of which would be far too high to be covered the initial savings available, let alone all the other measures such as draught proofing, loft insulation, ventilation and window replacement. As future fuel cost rise, however, there would be an immense saving available. In a modern cavity walled house the 80% reduction would require not only the insulation of the cavity but also exterior wall insulation as well as the above additional measures required for a solid walled house.
In the second case, the Kyoto requirement is for an 80% reduction in fuel use and is not an economic judgment but an environmental necessity, so why judge the remediation measures required on the basis of an economic payback? We have to reduce, by legal requirement, the country’s fossil fuel use by 80% so the decision of what to do cannot be made on the basis of whether the measures taken will give an economic payback. Also with the probable volatility of future fuel prices it is not possible to calculate the future fuel saving in order to calculate an economic return. Even the government is telling us that the future trend in fuel prices will be upwards, and not by small jumps either.
People’s unwillingness to spend at the moment is fuelled by the uncertainty over job and wage cuts and the near certainty of cost of living rises. With this scheme there would be no outlay to put off householders.
Fourthly, there is no reason for interest to be charged on the expenditure required to facilitate a government policy such as reaching the Kyoto requirement, especially in our current world financial predicament. There are two ways that money can be introduced into the national financial system; by the currently popular way of the banks lending money to individuals and companies and charging interest; and, secondly, by the government spending the money into existence for capital projects; that is printing it. This does not attract an interest charge.
No, the answer is ‘A National Scheme of Building Insulation’ as defined here: http://www.transitionnc.org/node/50/2262#comment-2262
It is a shame that the Government still promotes these types of half measures (actually 10% measures) rather than actually solving the problem… but that’s politicians for you. Listen to the science and then dilute it into insignificant measures.
SuperHome owner and the first farm in UK to be run on renewable energy.
Thank you for your comment. To answer each of your points:
1. There is no upper limit to the Green Deal
2. The Green Deal is designed to encourage a ‘whole house’ approach, rather than individual measures. The whole of the expected savings from a package of measures can be used to establish the level of repayments that are possible.
3. There is additional help available for those on lower incomes and for those in older properties that are harder to treat and less likely to meet the Golden Rule (the principle that costs should be offset by savings) will help ensure people save money from the outset.
4. The interest rate will be set by the market but is expected to be highly competitive compared to other sources of unsecured loans. The key is that repayments will not exceed expected savings.
5. We expect the market to develop rapidly.
6. DECC has announced that there is up to £200m available over this/next financial year to encourage early take up of Green Deal measures.
The announcement made yesterday on the Renewable Heat Incentive has already got installers excited about the opportunities which will be available in this part of the industry. A great deal of this excitement is also driven by consumers who are now starting to research and look at making investments in renewable heat technologies as happened with electricity generating technologies with the Feed in Tariffs. Alongside this, the Green Deal presents a great opportunity for consumers, installers, advisors and Government to drive the UK further towards it’s carbon targets whilst adding further growth to one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy.