Nov 19, 2007 -- M2 PRESSWIRE
Homes across the country will have access to a one stop shop service to help
make their homes greener, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced today.
The Green Homes Service will provide a single point people can contact for a
home energy audit plus advice on how they can save water, reduce waste,
green their travel, and connect to grants and offers from energy companies.
Hilary Benn said:
"When it comes to cutting your carbon footprint, the old adage 'there's no
place like home' really is true. We need to make this as easy as possible
for people to do. There's a lot of help out there in the form of grants,
advice, and other assistance, but it's hard to know where to start.
"The Green Homes Service will cut through the confusion by providing a one
stop shop, including a green MOT for your home and a green home makeover.
We'll be backing this by making help and support available to even more
households than in the past."
Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, said:
"Home buyers and sellers are now getting energy information on their homes,
but they need advice and support on how to use that information to cut their
fuel bills and get a better rating on their homes for the future. The Green
Homes Service is a great way to link home owners with the grants, loans and
financial packages that can help them cut the carbon emissions from their
homes."
Energy Saving Trust Chief Executive Philip Sellwood said:
"A simple no-nonsense approach with practical green advice is what people
are after, tailored for them and that is right for their lifestyles. They
want a total green solution, delivered by one impartial, trusted
organisation. This is what Green Homes will provide. This way the Energy
Saving Trust can reach the people who want to green their lives, but don't
know where to go and those who just want it done for them, without having to
worry. We'll take the hassle away."
The Green Homes Service will:
* Offer a green home health check - essentially an MOT for your home -
providing advice on energy saving as standard but also on water saving,
waste reduction and recycling and green travel options if desired;
* Connect people with offers from energy companies for discounted or free
energy saving products such as cavity wall and loft insulation, and offer a
range of other financial support packages through programmes such as Warm
Front;
* Offer a range of financial support packages to householders;
* Contact people buying and selling homes with poor energy ratings to
connect them with grants, loans and financial packages to get the work done
to improve the rating on their homes; and
* Pilot a premium service for a green home makeover using trusted suppliers
and minimising hassle for the householder.
The service will be backed by a range of measures, including:
* Transforming the Energy Saving Trust with more than GBP100 million in
government funding to build the existing energy advice service to become a
proactive Green Homes Service rolled out nationwide by 2011, based on a
regional network of one stop shops.
* Boosting investment in energy saving, by requiring energy companies to
double the energy saving measures they install in people's homes from April
2008, meaning they will reach up to 8 million households.
The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) will save 4.2 million tonnes of
CO2 per year by 2011 through measures that could include cavity wall
insulation for 3 million homes, with a typical saving of GBP90 on fuel
bills.
* Increasing support for renewable energy, with new CERT incentives for
energy companies to innovate, encouraging them to install more renewable
energy. Up to 150,000 homes could be generating their own renewable energy
by 2011, and other incentives for microgeneration, such as feed-in tariffs,
will be investigated.
* Promoting innovative finance, with the Green Homes Service leveraging
funding from the Government's home energy saving and fuel poverty schemes,
as well as looking at how to remove barriers to investing in home energy
saving and renewable energy through savings on fuel bills - for example by
linking repayments to the home, regardless of a change in ownership or
switching energy supplier.
The service will be launched on 1 April, when the Energy Saving Trust will
offer green advice to consumers on energy efficiency, renewable energy,
travel, water efficiency and waste reduction.
The Energy Saving Trust currently has a reactive only service and people
contact the Trust. This funding will enable the service to be proactive and
taken directly to people's doors.
The Green Homes Service will form part of the Government's Act on CO2
campaign, which aims to encourage people to cut their own carbon footprint.
More than 500,000 people have already visited the web-based Act on CO2
calculator to work out their carbon footprint and receive a personalised
action plan to reduce it.
Over the last six years, Government schemes have insulated two million
homes. Under the new Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which sets targets
for household energy suppliers to promote reductions in domestic CO2
emissions by encouraging and assisting householders to take up energy
efficiency and microgeneration measures, more than five million homes will
be helped.
Notes to Editors
1. The Green Homes Service will help consumers who are interested in acting
but need help to make greener choices. The scheme will have various options
and services available for consumers, and the pricing for premium services
is yet to be determined.
2. The Energy Saving Trust enables millions of people every year to take
energy saving action via its free advice service which has been established
for 15 years. In that time EST, which was established and is funded by the
Government and the private sector, has supported the adoption energy saving
measures that will lead to around 75 million tonnes of CO2 being saved. With
a background in commercial partnerships it is able to reach people at key
life stage points, such as when they move home, re-mortgage, or shop for new
products.
Press notices are available on our website
http://www.defra.gov.uk
Defra's aim is sustainable development
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