Energy Bill

Memorandum submitted by Mary Scott (EN 03)

By Mary Scott, project manager at Banchory Energy Reduction Initiative, Aberdeenshire. I have worked in the area of energy efficiency in homes since 1985 so I speak from much experience.

I am writing these comments in a personal capacity, although my colleagues and project would undoubtedly endorse my views if there had been time to consult them all.

My contribution relates to the Green Deal and my points are as follows:

· 1) Finance. To meet the carbon reduction targets required within the UK the Green Deal has to enable an enormous amount of insulation work for households to be achieved. This will not be possible without low-cost loans at a very low rate of interest. Economies of scale alone will not reduce costs enough. (And economies of scale will not happen without low-cost loans being available). To achieve this requires the support of the Green Investment Bank. Low interest loans would be the only way to motivate the public generally, instead of those already interested in energy saving.

· 2) Measures. I think the main emphasis of the Green Deal should be insulation, as maintenance would not be as much of an issue as say heating systems, and effective insulation greatly reduces the requirements for heating.

· 3) Floor Insulation. Floor insulation should be included as an insulation measure being promoted. At the moment very few people know that this is an option as the Energy Saving Trust has never promoted this although this can save 15% of heating costs. There is a lot of catching up to do in terms of public awareness of the effectiveness of this measure too. For this to happen, this needs to be one of the insulation measures included in the Green Deal.

June 2011