Technical Paper 17

The Green Deal is the UK government’s flagship policy to drive an increased uptake in energy-efficiency measures. Through the Green Deal, households and businesses can install energy-efficiency measures at no upfront cost. Instead, they will pay for the installation costs through regular payments on their energy bills. The Green Deal’s ‘Golden Rule’ aims to ensure that the repayments do not exceed savings on energy bills as a result of the energy-efficiency improvements. Some measures, which do not meet the ‘Golden Rule’ without support, will still be eligible under the Green Deal. These are expected to receive funding through the Energy Company Obligations (ECO). This includes hard-to-treat housing, and places significant emphasis on solid wall insulation. Historic Scotland Technical Paper 17 analysed three traditional property types common across Scotland, modelling comprehensive upgrade packages and identifying opportunities for financial support through the Green Deal and ECO. The report revisits Technical Paper 16, which explored the Green Deal in relation to traditional buildings in early 2012. Significant changes to the Green Deal and ECO has been made since, and the likely funding arena is substantially different. Technical Paper 17 therefore provides an up-to-date analysis of the applicability and limitations of the Green Deal and ECO for traditional properties in Scotland. Stuart Hay, Nicholas Heath & Gary Pearson (Changeworks)