Improve Your Home Energy Efficiency with the Green Deal

 (Photo credit: janie.hernandez55)

Unless you are lucky enough to have purchased a relatively new build, eco-friendlier property, it is likely that your home isn’t as energy efficient as it could be. There are several reasons that this is important, the first of which is it increases your carbon footprint if your home isn’t energy efficient. The second is a by-product of using less energy - it costs much less to run an ‘A’ energy efficiency rating home than a ‘G’. In our economic climate, saving money has never been so important, which is why government-backed initiatives such as the British Gas green deal that aim to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the UK, are much needed.

Although the government has not yet committed to a target to decarbonise the UK’s power sector yet, this scheme is certainly a step in the right direction. Saving money on your household expenditure can only ever be a good thing, so here’s how it works.

To start with you will need to arrange an appointment with a Green Deal assessor, who will do a thorough inspection of the current energy efficiency of your home. They will also review how you use energy in your house. Once this assessment has been carried out you will get a Green Deal Advice Report which contains the results of the assessment including an Energy Performance Certificate, which gives you your energy efficiency rating between A to G and your environmental impact rating, also between A to G. The report will also explain how you use energy such as heating, hot water, appliances and lighting, and compare your usage to a typical similar household.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With the Green Deal assessor’s valuable experience in improving the energy efficiency of homes across the UK, an individual recommendation will be made as to what you could have done to your home to improve its energy efficiency, and how the occupants of your household could save money by being more efficient with energy. If you would then like to proceed, they can form a Green Deal plan and arrange the installation of the recommended improvements to your home.