100 North homes to get a green makeover
Dec 8 2009 The Journal
HOMES in Sunderland are to get green makeovers as part of a £4m national scheme to tackle climate change by slashing carbon emissions.
The Gentoo housing group was chosen to manage one of three pilot projects for the Government’s Home Energy Pay As You Save scheme.
The initiative aims to give households the chance to get energy efficiency measures and renewable energy features, like solar panels, with no up front cost. Families can then repay the cash using money saved on their energy bills.
About 100 homes in Sunderland will take part in the pilot, which will run until April 2011.
Social landlord, Gentoo will look for a mixture of empty and occupied homes to work on over the next 18 months, fitting energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy measures, such as solar panels and ground source heat pumps.
John Craggs, deputy chief executive of the Gentoo Group, said: “We are delighted to have been successfully chosen to be involved in this exciting Government-backed scheme.
“This will enable us to build on our experience of achieving the Decent Homes Standard throughout all of our homes and not only allow us to save our customers money but also help us to achieve our environmental objective of giving the planet a little something back, in the process.”
Across England about 500 homes will take part in the Home Energy Pay As You Save trial, which aims to provide the Government with evidence on how it can foot the bill for its Great British Refurb, a plan to make the 22 million already-built homes in the UK more energy efficient.
