When the Green Deal launched on October 1st 2012, it was heralded as the “the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War”.
However, there is already industry-wide doubt about whether the scheme will ultimately succeed.
Leading PIR insulation specialist Celotex believes that we need to go back to basics to ensure UK homes are fit for the future and the Green Deal is a success for the Government, the environment and homeowners.
Millions of homes in the UK are simply not warm enough, weathertight or thermally efficient. To address this, the Green Deal aims to improve the energy efficiency of 14 million homes in the UK and in turn cut carbon emissions and energy bills. Also a part of the Green Deal, ECO (The Energy Company Obligation) promises up to £1.3 billon of energy efficiency and heating measures delivered each year through subsidies delivered by Energy Providers.
Following the high-profile failure of the Government’s Feed-in Tariff, it’s time to go back to basics and improve the thermal efficiency of the buildings themselves, rather than adding often unproven and expensive renewable technologies. With 8 million solid wall properties in the UK alone and only 160,000 of these properly insulated, it’s key to get the building fabric as energy efficient as possible to make sustainability achievable in the long term.
In line with this, the Government’s ambitions with the Green Deal go way beyond the ‘easy wins’ of previous initiatives which focused on cheaper loft-lagging and cavity wall insulation funded by energy company subsidies. Somewhat neglected in the past, solid wall insulation – internal and external – will now receive sufficient attention as part of an inclusive and much wider range of 45 Green Deal measures that include damp-proofing, windows and boilers.
Cases of solid wall insulation have been rare in the past as it was previously considered too complicated and costly when compared to loft lagging or cavity wall insulation. But with the Energy Trust stating that a gas heated, three bedroom, semi-detached home could save around £475 per year – the benefits are clear to see.
Industry innovations and developments such as Celotex PL4000 – a rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) bonded to 12.5mm tapered edge plasterboard and designed for internal applications – are now proving to be the ideal insulation for refurbishment projects. Offering maximum flexibility for the installer, a fast application and long term savings in both energy use and costs, this solution, along with EWI (external wall Insulation) systems, mean that solid wall upgrades are now economically viable.
With so few solid wall properties insulated to the required standard, due in part to little funding or subsidy in the past, the Green Deal presents an exceptional potential for high quality, high impact refurbishments. And with carbon emission savings estimated at ten times those achieved through loft insulation, solid wall insulation will not only reduce the house’s emissions but benefit the government, the environment and the homeowners.
Solid wall insulation can clearly make an impact during the thermal upgrading of energy inefficient homes – when compared to cavity wall insulation the initial costs may be higher but the long term savings can also be much greater. And with an expected growth of up to 60,000 jobs in the insulation sector by 2015, the benefits of the Green Deal will be much farther-reaching than just reducing UK homeowners’ heating bills.
