Head of resource efficient buildings at the Institute for Sustainability, Terry McGivern, told edie that in addition to allowing the Green Deal time to gain momentum, the Government’s should act as facilitator rather than leader of the movement.

“The Government needs to encourage solutions that deliver the results wanted from the scheme but to expect them to transform the market is unrealistic, as it’s too large an issue. It has to come from action by the industry and usually that comes from commercial opportunity, it doesn’t come through a sense of obligation unless it’s a legislative obligation,” he says.

Comparing the Green Deal to a business start-up, McGivern says the amount of initial enquiries the Green Deal has received is encouraging and any business manager would expect for the enquiries to take some time to convert into sales.

“The opportunity is there, we all recognise this as an enormous opportunity but it’s about how we get to those trigger points where the market starts to transform into the really large volume of sign-ups the Government, and us, are looking for,” he adds.

“I wouldn’t want to predict it yet but I think there is enough incentive and momentum in the industry, people are coming up with solutions and that has to come from the commercial sector,” he says.

Read the full article Green Deal: are we unrealistically hopeful?

Leigh Stringer

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