New green deal code announced

This will provide a vital route to delivering energy saving measures and micro generation, where the upfront capital costs have previously been preventative, transforming the country’s homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

Miles Thomas, head of Savills Energy said: “With a significant percentage of the opportunity to achieve savings lying in the adaption of existing stock, this is possibly the most important and progressive piece of energy legislation the UK has seen and its effects will be far reaching.”

The UK government has stated its aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 and, according to the Building Research Establishment’s August 2010 publication on energy efficiency in the built environment, CO2 emissions from existing buildings accounted for approximately 40 per cent of total UK CO2 emissions in 2006; a startling statistic and a clear signpost to the opportunity that our existing building stock presents in meeting these targets.

The Green Deal proposes a maximum sum of £10,000 that can be used to invest in a number of measures, with payments repaid through energy bills providing that repayments will be less than the money saved through efficiency measures. Of particular interest is that the Green Deal will apply to the domestic and commercial sectors and to tenants as well as owner occupiers. Landlords must honour reasonable requests from tenants.

The Green Deal is at the committee stage at the moment and it is not likely to be implemented until 2012, but assessing your options in the context of other existing and emerging legislation such as the Feed in Tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive will be an essential step in maximising the opportunities that our energy future holds.

Nick Green, Savills Rural Energy added: “A Green Deal offers a solution for consumers to improve energy efficiency of properties with no capital outlay. Rural businesses will be able to add this to form one pillar of their “energy plan” with the other pillar being renewable energy generation.”