A project which could ultimately see all homes in Birmingham retrofitted with energy efficient improvements, will be considered today by Birmingham City Council.

To be launched initially as a pilot project within Aston, Lozells, Newtown and Northfield, the Green New Deal will see up to 25,000 homeowners and 1000 businesses offered the chance to have significant energy improvements made to their properties both through insulation and small scale generation, which in the long term will leave them in profit.

Simply by hitting its five-year target that one in five homes in the pilot area take up the retro-fitting offer (5,000 homes) the project will see an annual CO2 saving of more than 3750 tonnes, and create 270 job in the process.

-- Advertisement --

As well as saving homeowners money, and cutting carbon emissions, the pilot project will also create/protect 111 jobs and 170 apprenticeships thanks to a £1,186,000 contribution from BeBirmingham through the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF).

Cllr Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "The project offers a fantastic opportunity for homeowners to not only cut carbon pollution, but also save themselves thousands of pounds by drastically reducing future bills without the need for any huge up front payment.

"With domestic properties accounting for 33% of total carbon pollution within the city, and commercial premises 46%, the project will deliver one of the objectives of the Birmingham Declaration on Climate Change that 10% of Birmingham homes will have retrofit insulation by 2015 and substantially help Birmingham reach its ambitious CO2 reduction targets of 60% by 2026.

"So if we can successfully operate this scheme within the pilot area, and really get local people bought in, then there is no reason at all we can’t look to roll this out across all of Birmingham in the future, setting a green standard beyond that of any city in the world."

(CD/BMcC)