The Climate Change Minister visited Brighton and Hove today (Monday 9 May) as the government prepares to announce details of its Green Deal policy tomorrow.
The minister, Greg Barker, went to see an eco-home in Hove, had a round-table discussion at Brighton University and saw the steps taken to make Telscombe Civic Centre more energy efficient.
Mr Barker, Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, was invited to Brighton by fellow Conservative MP Simon Kirby, who represents Brighton Kemptown.
The minister, who is the MP for the Sussex constituency of Bexhill and Battle, met Mr Kirby, Hove Tory MP Mike Weatherley and Brighton Pavilion Green MP Caroline Lucas at the university.
He also met representatives of Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce at the university along with leading members of the sustainable energy community.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 10 May) his department will spell out details of the Green Deal, the policy to improve the energy efficiency of people’s homes.
Reality check
Mr Barker described the Green Deal as the “most ambitious programme of its kind ever attempted”.
He said: “I’m here for a reality check, reminding me what it will mean on the ground.
“The Green Deal, when it is launched next year, will unlock billions of pounds of new investment.
“It will be the biggest national home improvement programme since the war and will create a massive opportunity for British business.
“The excellent discussions today at Brighton University with people from across the city show that Brighton will be well placed to lead the way in this exciting new sector.”
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government has said the Green Deal would provide a framework to enable private firms to offer consumers energy efficiency improvements.
Invest
The aim is to enable people to invest in making their homes, community spaces and businesses more energy efficient without having to pay any upfront costs.
And the cost would be recouped through a charge in instalments on energy bills.
Mr Barker visited Brighton University’s new £23 million Huxley building in Moulsecoomb.
There he took part in a round-table discussion with entrepreneurs, business leaders and organisations which are working with the university on ways to cut carbon emissions and improve sustainability.
He later went Telscombe Civic Centre to meet members of Telscombe Town Council to discuss the recent retrofitting of the Civic Centre to make it more energy efficient. This includes the installation of solar panels on the building’s roof.
Mr Kirby said that the minister’s visit demonstrated the significant strides being made in the area to promote green businesses, encourage better energy use and find environmentally friendly solutions to local problems.
He said: “I am delighted that the Minster of State visited so that he could see the great progress that is being made locally to build on the vision of an environmentally sustainable United Kingdom.
“Brighton and the surrounding area is a national leader in embracing new technologies based on sound science to create practical applications to improve people’s lives in an environmentally friendly way.”
Mr Kirby has seen some of these for himself, for example, Blue Carbon, the energy reduction company in Woodingdean. The company uses innovative electrical current optimisation (ECO) technology.
Cost savings
Blue Carbon has recently installed its Ultra Eco product at a factory in Kent after a four-month trial there demonstrated energy reduction and cost savings of more than 8 per cent.
Mr Kirby said: “Greg Barker’s visit will give a terrific boost to the eco home movement in the city.”
And he added: “The visit to Brighton University demonstrated the link between business and the university in developing cutting edge ideas.”
Zoe Osmond, the university’s business development manager, said: “The university has a strong applied research base in environmental disciplines and has been providing expertise and knowledge to businesses and organisations for many years now.
“Our aim is to act as the innovation hub or knowledge centre for our partners.
“Easy access to the university’s knowledge and skills will help organisations achieve green growth and to thrive in a low-carbon economy.”
She told how the university had recently announced its goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 50 per cent by 2015, including emissions from gas, electricity, refrigerants, waste and business travel.
And projects were under way in the community to help fight climate change.
She explained how Professor Mike McEvoy was helping lead a multimillion-pound project to retrofit council homes in Kent.
Earlier, the minister visited the Hove home of Oliver Heath, the eco designer and TV presenter, to inspect energy efficiencies that he has introduced.
Mr Heath is a member of the sustainable design group with the university’s Profitnet organisation.
Profitnet enables small and medium-size enterprises to learn from each other and to gain access to university expertise.
