The right elements

Yes

Ministers have high hopes that the green deal will transform our homes, making them warmer, healthier and cheaper to run, as well as helping the UK achieve its legally binding carbon reduction targets; a ‘revolution’ in the words of environment secretary Chris Huhne.

All our homes will need to be retrofitted to meet 2050 targets of an 80 per cent carbon cut. This will not be possible through energy efficiency measures alone. We need renewables such as solar photovoltaic panels in the green deal for powering and heating our homes.

Renewables are not a distraction in an energy saving programme - they are a significant part of the package for a home retrofit. The green deal will need to assess and deliver not just fabric improvements but also onsite generation of renewable heat and power.

The green deal needs to offer a package for a full home retrofit to householders. We cannot continue with the uninspiring, incremental, piecemeal approach we have at present for energy saving. That will not ensure we meet our 2020 or 2050 carbon targets. Energy efficiency measures and renewables need to be offered together.

It seems impossible to make insulation sexy, but offering a full package of fabric improvements and renewables (where appropriate) will make the green deal more attractive to householders and help drive uptake, while ensuring the UK delivers a low carbon housing stock.

The government should ensure energy efficiency measures are installed before renewables to qualify for the green deal programme - that way it can ensure that energy demand is cut, appropriate renewables are installed, and homes are truly low carbon. Without this, the green deal will be unable to meet Mr Huhne’s aspirations.

Darren Shirley, campaign manager of sustainable homes at WWF

No

Improving building fabric is the most cost-effective way to reduce energy bills and carbon emissions, but is also the least glamorous, ‘boring’ and hardest for people to understand. Solar photovoltaic panels on a roof are shiny; heat pumps give the illusion of ‘free’ energy. Technological, modern and sexy; people and politicians are easily seduced by this as the solution. They mustn’t be.

There is now pressure from the renewable energy sector for micro-renewables incentives to be included in the green deal on the basis that this will make the green deal ‘more attractive’ to householders. This argument must be resisted, because it will divert attention away from the importance of upgrading building fabric to questionable renewable energy measures. The micro-renewable energy lobby has had far too much influence on government policy leading to code for sustainable homes level 4, 5 and 6 houses being built by social landlords that cost far too much with questionable payback times and future maintenance worries.

One of the main concerns for the success of the green deal is not just that houses are insulated, but that they are properly insulated. Badly fitted insulation is next to useless, because it will make little difference to thermal performance. Poorly designed retrofits can do a great deal of damage to buildings, creating indoor air quality problems, condensation and dampness. Expertise in this area is in short supply and thus properly resourced research, education and training is vital. All focus needs to be on improving buildings’ fabrics without distraction.

The best approach is to just go for affordable building insulation that will reduce energy consumption more effectively. If this is rolled out country-wide it could have far more benefit in the future than sticking on more eco-bling.

Tom Woolley is an architect and author of Natural Building, Hemp Lime Construction and the Green Building Handbook