"Thousands of new insulation workers will soon be hitting Britain’s streets as part of a national effort to make people’s homes warmer and cheaper to run. Chris Huhne, today said that by 2015 up to 100,000 Green Deal workers could be employed in the effort to upgrade Britain’s homes. Currently around 27,000 work in the insulation industry. Legislation to start the process of establishing the Green Deal is due to be introduced into Parliament next month.The Green Deal is the Government’s new and radical way of making energy efficiency available to all, whether people own or rent their property. The work to upgrade the property will be paid back from the saving on energy bills.Chris Huhne, visiting British Gas’ Energy Academy in Thatcham, said:“The Green Deal’s about making people feel as warm as toast in their homes. I want Britain to say goodbye forever to leaky lofts and chilly draughts. At a time of increasing gas prices energy efficiency is a no-brainer."
This is from the http://www.decc.gov.uk/ website. There is a leaflet on the Green Deal that is also available to download from this website which goes on to explain that 3.5 million homes will be insulated in the run up to the Green Deal.
Part of the leaflet states "Under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) the Government requires all major, domestic energy suppliers to make savings in the amount of CO2 emitted by households. CERT helps reduce energy demand; enhance the UK’s security of supply; reduce fuel poverty; and, secure jobs in energy efficiency industries. In June 2010 the new Government extended the scheme to ensure 3.5 million new homes can benefit by 2012, providing an additional 107 MtCO2 in carbon savings"
I can only hope that these "thousands of insulation workers" will be 1. regulated, 2. a thorough assessment of the required amount of insulation workers will take place, 3. training providers will be kept in check.
When I read further through I found this "Chris Huhne announces that “were all 26 million households to take up the Green Deal over the next 20 years, employment in the sector would rise from its current level of 27,000 to something approaching 250,000” I know I keep rabbiting on about this (sorry in advance) but please get a grip on the training providers - there are some fantastic ones out there (Elmhurst, SAVA, ECMK etc) but there are also the ones that are promising the moon and the stars and are giving the industry a bad name. Also (sorry soapbox again) cap the amount of people allowed to train for the green profession and set the fees like the Australian Government did.
The direct gov website is getting better - its still not positive enough for me, but compared to a year ago there are alot more details on there about how to save money when you move home. The website can be reached on this link http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Greenerlifeevents/DG_064436. It is a shame though that the EPC is only mentioned once on this page and then only very briefly. I did enjoy reading about the microgeneration technologies and it is explained simply so it doesn't get confusing.
Showing posts with label green loans programme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green loans programme. Show all posts
Friday, 12 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Comparisons
Its easy as a parent to get dragged into the whole my child is doing this earlier than your child routine, it doesn't do anyone any favours and sometimes can leave you feeling very negative about your own parenting skills.
Having just been to my eldests parents evening (shes doing very well, am proud) I was thinking on the way home about comparing countries.......... over the past few days I have looked at what other countries are doing, putting into practice, the websites (I still love Swedens website) and their promises and it has made me think of what its like when you compare children - nobody benefits and you can end up feeling negative when in fact there are things you should be proud of.
Every child develops at a different rate just as every country changes and implements new laws at different rates. The important thing is to praise what is good - if you complain/nag all the time it won't get anywhere.
So I am very proud of the EPC that the UK has in place, there are things that I would change but on the whole we are getting there. I am proud of what all the other countries are doing and it is impressive and encouraging to see what changes are occuring.
But I would still like to see some more changes - greater promotion of the EPC, better website, no interest loans available, available grants promoted more (this would also help stop the current winter scam) and more working together with other countries to see what we can all learn from each other - there is never any point in teaching your grandmother to suck eggs as the saying goes but we can all work together to improve our own countries.
Having just been to my eldests parents evening (shes doing very well, am proud) I was thinking on the way home about comparing countries.......... over the past few days I have looked at what other countries are doing, putting into practice, the websites (I still love Swedens website) and their promises and it has made me think of what its like when you compare children - nobody benefits and you can end up feeling negative when in fact there are things you should be proud of.
Every child develops at a different rate just as every country changes and implements new laws at different rates. The important thing is to praise what is good - if you complain/nag all the time it won't get anywhere.
So I am very proud of the EPC that the UK has in place, there are things that I would change but on the whole we are getting there. I am proud of what all the other countries are doing and it is impressive and encouraging to see what changes are occuring.
But I would still like to see some more changes - greater promotion of the EPC, better website, no interest loans available, available grants promoted more (this would also help stop the current winter scam) and more working together with other countries to see what we can all learn from each other - there is never any point in teaching your grandmother to suck eggs as the saying goes but we can all work together to improve our own countries.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
What can we learn from other countries?
I have been reading some of my favourite blogs this morning and looking for new information about what other countries are doing to reduce the energy usage of their privately owned properties. Whilst I was looking I found this: -http://www.energy-performance-certificates.org/blog/think-domestic-energy-assessors-have-it-bad. Its from Mike C's blog and is dated back in March of this year, Mike has tirelessly provided good, up to date information for DEAs and the general public with regards to the energy assessors industry within this country and is one of the people I admire.
"Australia’s Housing Sustainability Assessment Scheme (HSAS) launched in July 2009 to provide 360,000 homes with free energy assessments, allowing homeowners to qualify for an interest-free loan of up to AU$10,000 to pay for energy-efficiency improvements under its Green Loans Program, repayable over four years. " Mike goes on to explain that it was thought that this scheme would take over 4 years to complete and provide work for the assessors in Australia.
Fortunately the Australians did alot of things right such as:
1. Setting a fee (no undercutting or rogue traders over there)
2. Giving lots of promotion.
3. Only one accreditaton scheme.
4. Interest free loan to make the improvements (great idea and a good way to get people to carry out the improvements in my opinion)
Although there were also the problems with the fact that the accreditation scheme suspended new assessor registration and late payments by the government to the assessors. And once again those nasty training providers were at it again, the Australian government did not cap the amount of assessors needed leaving the assessors in much the same position as the ones here in the UK with too many assessors and not enough work - the only people to benefit from that have been (once again) the training providers.
What was nice to see though was this quote from the ASBA - "While it was not our role under the Federal Government protocol to limit the number of registrations, we became sufficiently concerned with the increased number of assessors seeking accreditation. Therefore we took the decision to limit the number of registrations pending while at the same time putting our concerns directly to DEWHA. "
Apparently though the assessors in Australia have a champion, who believe in speaking her mind clearly - Christine Milne, who is a Green Party MP. Its nice to see that they have some one fighting their corner.
In 2011 Australia is legislating for homes sold to have a certificate of environmental performance - I can only hope that they look at what has happened already with their assessors and limit the number accredited and continue to keep the fees fixed so that the assessors do not suffer the same fate as the DEAs in the UK.
There are many things that both countries can learn from one another and this is what I feel would help in both countries:
1. Set the fee
2. Watch the training providers
3. One overall governing body
4. Incentives to encourage energy saving
5. Promotion to encourage greater understanding of the certificate
6. An EPC should only be valid for 12 months - not 3 years for selling and 10 years for rental. It causes confusion.
7. Cap the amount of assessors.
"Australia’s Housing Sustainability Assessment Scheme (HSAS) launched in July 2009 to provide 360,000 homes with free energy assessments, allowing homeowners to qualify for an interest-free loan of up to AU$10,000 to pay for energy-efficiency improvements under its Green Loans Program, repayable over four years. " Mike goes on to explain that it was thought that this scheme would take over 4 years to complete and provide work for the assessors in Australia.
Fortunately the Australians did alot of things right such as:
1. Setting a fee (no undercutting or rogue traders over there)
2. Giving lots of promotion.
3. Only one accreditaton scheme.
4. Interest free loan to make the improvements (great idea and a good way to get people to carry out the improvements in my opinion)
Although there were also the problems with the fact that the accreditation scheme suspended new assessor registration and late payments by the government to the assessors. And once again those nasty training providers were at it again, the Australian government did not cap the amount of assessors needed leaving the assessors in much the same position as the ones here in the UK with too many assessors and not enough work - the only people to benefit from that have been (once again) the training providers.
What was nice to see though was this quote from the ASBA - "While it was not our role under the Federal Government protocol to limit the number of registrations, we became sufficiently concerned with the increased number of assessors seeking accreditation. Therefore we took the decision to limit the number of registrations pending while at the same time putting our concerns directly to DEWHA. "
Apparently though the assessors in Australia have a champion, who believe in speaking her mind clearly - Christine Milne, who is a Green Party MP. Its nice to see that they have some one fighting their corner.
In 2011 Australia is legislating for homes sold to have a certificate of environmental performance - I can only hope that they look at what has happened already with their assessors and limit the number accredited and continue to keep the fees fixed so that the assessors do not suffer the same fate as the DEAs in the UK.
There are many things that both countries can learn from one another and this is what I feel would help in both countries:
1. Set the fee
2. Watch the training providers
3. One overall governing body
4. Incentives to encourage energy saving
5. Promotion to encourage greater understanding of the certificate
6. An EPC should only be valid for 12 months - not 3 years for selling and 10 years for rental. It causes confusion.
7. Cap the amount of assessors.
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