Closure of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme to new Applications Effective from Monday 24th May 2010

• Government has announced that it is committed to delivering £6bn of departmental spending cuts in 2010/11.
• The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is contributing £85m to this total. The sum reflects the fact that DECC operates with relatively small admin costs but still delivers against a big and challenging agenda.
• Cuts of this level are never going to be easy. They come from two sources:

The Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP), Phase-1 and Phase-2 has closed to all new applications for grants for electrical microgeneration as of 5pm, Wednesday 3rd February, which follows the publication of the Government’s consultation on the Feed-In Tariffs (FIT’s)

Unfortunately due to extremely high demand the current allocation of funds available for RE4D grants has been used up. We are currently waiting to hear what their next offer will be.

As you may know the government is currently running a boiler scrappage scheme for England giving households a £400 incentive if they upgrade a G-rated boiler for a modern heating system.

What a lot of people are unaware of is that this scheme also covers heat pumps.

As MCS accredited heat pump installers this means that our customers qualify for an additional £900 Low Carbons Building Programme grant against installation.

That’s £1,300 available towards the installation of an air source heat pump!

The Government has today launched a search for local authorities, charities and social enterprises to take up the challenge to help communities fight climate change.

Communities can apply for a share of a £10million fund as part of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge to build on existing low carbon schemes.

Around a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from heating, lighting and powering electrical appliances in homes. By 2050 this needs to be almost zero if the UK is to cut its emissions by 80% highlighting the importance of local action.

Devon County Council have committed a Match Fund to provide Schools and Colleges the capital to invest in Carbon Saving projects.

This Green Challenge Fund is a fantastic opportunity for Schools and Colleges to upgrade the Building Services and Fabric of their buildings, contributing to the reduction of climate damaging carbon dioxide emissions, reducing fuel bills and increasing the efficiency of their buildings.

E.On the power and gas generating and distributing company has announced the launch of a new Sustainable Energy Fund.

The E.ON Sustainable Energy Fund offers grants of up to £20,000 to community groups and not for profit organisations who wish to consider and implement sustainable energy projects in their buildings.

Projects that can be considered include:

Many of us think we know how our local town or community can be improved but only some of us try to develop practical ideas to get things done, and too often, such initiatives falter because of lack of funding.

Now, if you are a local community group, local business, not for profit organisation or charity which has ideas on how to improve the Greater Dartmoor area, a new organisation may be able to help you.

As part of the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan the Government has announced the details of the proposed feed-in tariff for electricity generated through renewable energy systems, like solar photovoltaics.

The new tariff will pay for ALL electricity generated by your system, irrespective of if you use it yourself or sell it back to the grid. The amounts paid are in addition to any saving you will make by purchasing less electricity from your supplier and any income you earn from selling your surplus power to your electricity supplier.

The key points of the announcement are: