It seems as though the United Kingdom is leading the charge as far as 'green' homes and developments are concerned. With announcements of both corporate spaces and manufacturing plants in Birmingham and Kent being either converted to eco-friendly developments, or built from the ground up, it would only be a matter of time before the government started doing more than publicly talking about going 'green'.
In Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget speech earlier this week, there seemed to be an underlying theme of making the change to a more eco-friendly policy in regards to lowering emissions and other energy conscious efforts. A striking announcement was the creation and implementation of what appears to be an ambitious programme aimed at reducing household emissions.
With an aim of not only reducing emissions but also cutting household bills, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target program (CERT) will oblige energy companies to give customers increased deals for energy efficiency measures. Loft insulation along with cavity wall insulation will become available for an approximate three million households, in conjunction with appliances which are much more energy efficient and energy saving light bulbs.
Continuing with the focus of cutting bills for homeowners through reduced consumption, the Green Home Service (GHS) was offered nearly £26 million by Mr. Darling. Also included in Mr. Darling's announcement were additional programs designed to increase the use of smart meters in domestic properties in conjunction with the appropriate incentives in order to persuade a reduction in carbon consumption.
However, among the relatively substantial list of proposed programs, a target goal of making all commercial and non-domestic property zero carbon by the year 2019, coupled with prior pledges ensuring all newly built houses were carbon neutral by 2016, seemed to be the most ambitious of the bunch.
Ending his speech, the Chancellor alluded to increasing the United Kingdom’s general environmental commitment. Mr. Darling stated, "We have asked the Climate Change Committee to advise us – whether as part of an international agreement – we should raise our target to 80%."
The effectiveness of these initiatives and their realistic implementation by both housing buyers, real estate investors, and property developers is yet to be seen.
