Ecobuild last month was quite simply the biggest it has ever been with 40,000 visitors and an increase of 20% of exhibitors than the previous year.
During the 3 day exhibition, the Government launched its Home Energy Management Strategy, which included a commitment to primary legislation to enable a Pay As Yous Save scheme.
Home Energy Management Strategy states that by 2020 the following will have happened:
● every home where it is practical will have loft and cavity wall insulation – an ambition
intended to deliver on by 2015;
● every home in Britain will have a smart meter and display to help them better manage
their use of energy;
● up to 7 million households will have had an eco-upgrade which would include advanced
measures such as solid wall insulation or heat pumps alongside smart meters and more
basic measures;
● people living in rented accommodation will enjoy higher levels of energy efficiency as
landlords – private and social – take action to improve the fabric of properties;
● there will be wider take up of district heating in urban areas, such as in blocks of flats,
in new build and social housing, and in commercial and public sector buildings; and
● there will be a core of up to 65,000 people employed in the new industry of energy
efficiency, and potentially several times more down supply chains. Jobs will include
installing and manufacturing energy saving measures or providing home energy advice.
The Pay as You Save (PAYS) is a model where a householder can borrow finance to carry out upgrades and the energy savings pay the finance back over a long period. Furthermore the legislation will allow this to be attached to the property and not to the individual carrying out the works. It is the intention that studies will be undertaken with RICS to develop a mechanism to value property partially on the basis of its energy efficiency, thus ensuring that there is an increase in value of more energy efficient properties.
