£3.5bn to be spent on energy efficiency for British homes

1 July 2009

More help to save energy will be available to householders due to an increase in the Government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme and the introduction of a new Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP).Together, CERT and CESP will see extra investment by energy companies under the two schemes, taking the total to an estimated £3.5bn in energy efficiency improvements by the end of 2012.

The changes to CERT include a 20 per cent increase in carbon emissions reduction target leading to a revised target of 185 million lifetime tonnes of carbon.
The inclusion of Home Energy Advice is a measure that can also be offered, where experts will visit householders and audit current energy efficiency.

An estimated 60 per cent of the total funding available under the enhanced scheme will go to low-income and elderly householders, who will receive free or substantially discounted energy saving improvements such as insulation.

An increase in the amount energy suppliers are able to devote to innovative energy efficiency methods, such as microgeneration and solid wall insulation – from six per cent to up to ten per cent of their total target
The Government today also announced the details of the new Community Energy Saving Programme, to begin this Autumn, helping householders in low-income areas receive ‘whole house’ energy makeovers.

The introduction of CESP will see up to 100 community schemes set up benefiting around 90,000 homes and delivering a savings of nearly 2.9m tonnes of CO2 by December 2012, according to a statement.

Minister of State in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Joan Ruddock said, ‘Home energy efficiency has never been so important in achieving our long term goals on climate change and to making a real difference to householder’s energy bills. Today’s announcement delivers a major part of the Prime Minister’s Home Energy Savings Programme that ensures people can save money and save energy, as well as reducing emissions.

‘Community-level solutions are the key to fighting climate change and the roll-out of CESP later this year will teach us valuable lessons in how to provide help to every home in every street. By providing the tools for change we are empowering the British people to play their role in tackling climate change.’

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: energy efficiency, policy

This story was published on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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