Co-ops awarded £250,000 to test Governement Green Deal

October 1st 2012

In Manchester two Green co-ops are taking a community approach to the new Government incentive to help residents reduce their carbon emissions.

Carbon Co-op, and urban design co-op, URBED, On 27 September launched their Community Green Deal project at Manchester Town Hall.

This unique project will act as a test for the Governments Green Deal programme that is set to launch January next year.

Working in association with Great Manchester Authority, Carbon Co-op have received £250,000 of funding from DECC for their pilot programme.

The aim of the Green Deal is to give people the opportunity to make home improvements to reduce carbon emissions without spending money. The capital for the improvements will be provided by: banks, energy suppliers and retailers, who will then get the money back through the resident’s energy bills.

Therefore, a Golden Rule applies, where estimated savings on bills must always equal or exceed the cost of the work.

The improvements will be done to improve the carbon footprint of old houses through better insulation, double glazing and other energy saving methods.

This Community Green Deal project is a pilot and therefore does not fall under the forthcoming Green Dea’ programme with its associated protections and warranties, all measures are Green Deal–like, simulating how the eventual scheme will operate.

Accross Greater Manchester Carbon Co-op will preform assessments on 20 houses. From there they will choose eight to retrofit, based on different criteria such as age, space and resident’s expectations. URBED will be designing and installing the retrofit.

Carbon Co-op member Jonathan Atkinson explained: “We are testing the idea that there are lots of people in Greater Manchester who want a share in this process and that a mutually owned approach will be an effective mechanism to deal with fuel poverty and climate change.”

“This pilot project is new territory but we’re confident of our service and look forward to proving our case.”

Due to their co-operative and community nature, they are taking the assessments further than the government standard, focusing on people’s needs such as comfort, air quality and green interests.
Carbon Co-op and URBED have worked together on similar retrofitting projects in the past and discovered the varying reasons people want to change their houses.

As the Golden Rule prevents the cost of the work exceeding the bills, people who are under heating their homes are unlikely to gain as much from the project. The pilot scheme aimed to explore these issues.

Charlie Baker, a member of URBED, previously retrofitted his own home to see if it was possible to reach the Government target of 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. Spending just under £50,000, he managed to reduce his footprint by 84 percent.

He explained that by working with a community-based organisation like Carbon Co-op they are able to make bigger differences across neighbourhoods and reach more people in the local community.
Under the Community Green Deal householders will be able to take part and get the option to access zero percent interest loans to do the retrofit.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has invested £3 million into the area, and it will involve 700 homes in total.