Climate change minister addresses Retrofit energy conference

The government’s Green Deal will increase the scale and pace of improved energy efficiency, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker told last week’s Retrofit Salford 2011 conference.

Barker also outlined how industry needs to work closely with universities such as Salford to drive innovation and to develop pragmatic solutions to achieve the government’s ambitious emissions targets

Barker also officially opened the University of Salford’s new Energy Hub – a multi-disciplinary research centre drawing on the expertise of over 25 academics from 13 departments, and a centre of excellence for energy research in the UK.

He said: “The ‘pay as you save’ model that underpins the Green Deal relies on fitting and installing measures that pay for themselves,” he explained.

“So in order for people to be sure when they fit certain measures that they will pay for themselves, we need robust testing and monitoring – the sort of thing that will be done at the University of Salford.”

Barker added that he was confident that the coalition’s Green Deal could deliver the energy savings needed in people’s homes to ensure that the UK was on track to meet the target of cutting emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.