Greg Barker responds to Green Deal criticism

Greg Barker responds to Green Deal criticism

In the article, Mr Barker called the government's recent announcement to push proposals forward a 'game-changer', and said the debate was about far more than loft insulation. 

Instead, claimed Mr Barker, the Green Deal will now be able to 'open up the energy-efficiency market' and allow small and medium-seized businesses to enter.

This would extend the benefits of the energy efficiency scheme as it would also stimulate the 'green' goods and services market, which supports 1 million jobs, Mr Barker stated. 

Talking about the markets for loft and solid-wall insulation, he also highlighted the industry's need for subsidisation: 

"One fact about loft insulation is that the market is shrinking. 99% of lofts have some kind of insulation. By the end of the year about 200,000 – only about 1% - will remain without any insulation; and well over half have the maximum level. So it's inevitable that forecasts show the number of loft insulation's will fall: there are fewer of them to do.

"Contrast this with insulating our solid walled properties. Of the UK stock of about 8m solid-wall homes, only about 130,000, or 2%, have been properly insulated.

"So here is a virtually untapped market which has benefited from little or no subsidy to date and where the potential for carbon savings is 10 times that of topping up a loft (1t CO2 as opposed to 0.1t CO2) and can mean 10 times the financial savings for householders - £274 compared with £25 a year, on average."

Read more: The government outlines changes to the Green Deal