The construction industry is capable of making an energy efficiency retrofit market work
Have we simply got the model for rolling-out the Green Deal wrong?
On the one hand large area-based schemes, like Birmingham Energy Savers (BES), are widely acknowledged as a good way to market energy efficiency and get economies of scale that allow for more competitive prices.
But on the other, we report this week the 拢1.6bn BES scheme has shrunk by 拢600m because talks with many local authorities have ground to a halt.
Programmes like Birmingham鈥檚 have been the main focus for many contractors in the Green Deal market and they require large firms to make them work. But, as one of the biggest area-based programmes is running into difficulty, it could be time to look at how the industry is delivering schemes like this.
Perhaps what is really going to catalyse the market is the grassroots approach that smaller businesses are bringing
Maybe the logistics are too complicated? Maybe the sell to consumers who distrust energy firms and big business is too difficult?
Certainly take-up of the Green Deal nationally has been disappointing with just 1,119 plans signed in its first year. That has led the industry to clamour for greater incentives for the scheme.
But perhaps what is really going to catalyse the market is the grassroots approach that smaller businesses are bringing and that energy minister Greg Barker championed in January.
The construction industry is capable of overcoming great obstacles if it sets its collective mind to the task; a thriving energy efficiency retrofit market is surely not beyond us.
Vern Pitt, senior reporter
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