Minister discusses GM Green Deal
MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DISCUSSES THE GREEN DEAL
Greg Barker, Minister for Climate Change made a visit to Manchester on Thursday, May 9 to discuss Greater Manchester’s progress in pioneering the Green Deal.
The Minister met with housing, skills, building and energy experts from Greater Manchester’s Low Carbon Hub – made up of representatives from the ten local authorities and private sector businesses, whose aim is to reduce carbon emissions across the region by 48 per cent by 2020.
The Green Deal enables households to make energy saving improvements such as insulation, draught proofing and double glazing as well as funding new sustainable technologies such as solar panels or wind turbines. Improvements are paid for in instalments added to the household’s electricity bill.
As one of the ‘Go Early’ pilot areas for the Green Deal GM has already launched its local programme- carrying out 584 Green Deal assessments and agreeing 555 improvement plans and loans to households. In total this has delivered around £7.5 million of investment in energy saving and green technologies.
The Green Deal offer builds on the success of the Greater Manchester Get Me Toasty campaign which, by the end of last year, had delivered over £5 million of energy improvements to homes across the area with a total carbon saving of nearly 13,000 tonnes.
Alongside the Greater Manchester Energy Switch - the UK's largest local government led scheme, these initiatives aim to improve household finances and cut carbon emissions by changing how we buy and use energy in our homes.
The meeting took place at the Greenbuild expo - a major exhibition of low carbon and environmental products and services, which featured many successful Greater Manchester companies.
The sector employs over 37,000 people and generates £5.4 Billion a year in Greater Manchester alone, and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK. Ways to provide jobs and skills in this sector, to protect customers from energy price rises through energy system innovation and to improve access to finance for small companies seeking to grow as part of a low carbon economy were key topics of discussion with the Minister.
Mr Barker said: “I’m delighted residents across Greater Manchester are taking advantage of the benefits offered by the Green Deal.
“The scheme is helping to transform the health and lives of thousands of people by giving them easy access to improvements that are not only helping the environment but also adding value to their homes and saving them money on their energy bills.”