Archive for July, 2013

The Climate Change Act 2008 legislated for a reduction in our carbon emissions and set legally binding carbon budgets across all sectors of the UK economy – including our homes, communities and workplaces and as part of this the government has made a pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 34% (of 1990 levels) by 2020 and 80% by 2050. UK domestic buildings are among the least efficient in the world and account for 38 per cent of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The Green Deal scheme has been set up by the government to make improvements in the efficiency of these buildings more accessible to the general population and aims to do the following:

• Reduce the demand for energy
• Reduce dependence on imported fuel
• Meet carbon reduction targets
• Achieving affordable warmth
• Avoiding upfront cost

Applied to the process of improvement is the “Golden Rule” – which ensures that repayments for the work completed to improve energy efficiency do not exceed the savings made by these improvements. So in effect, this is a medium to long term solution in terms of financial savings but has an immediate effect in terms of carbon reduction. continue