The UK has the oldest housing stock in the world with over 80% of the UK's 26 million homes being privately owned (70% owner occupied, 12% private landlords). Circa 40% of total carbon emissions arise from our homes and as a result of our lifestyles. Over 85% of  carbon dioxide emissions originate from privately owned homes, not social housing. More than 90% of the UK's 60 million consumers have high carbon lifestyles.

The immense task of improving 20 million inadequately insulated homes and persuading over 50 million consumers to adopt low carbon lifestyles, lies ahead and all political parties recognise that winning the hearts and minds of  consumers and persuading them to change behaviour  is essential if we are to achieve this. However, we are well behind schedule because Government strategy to date has been driven by the views of the public and voluntary sectors with minimal input from the private sector - apart from energy suppliers - and still no consensus exists on how to ensure delivery.

Persuading homeowners to insulate lofts and cavity walls is easy - limited hassle and low cost. Conversely, persuading homeowners to install solar systems and / or sold wall insulation is more complex as is persuading 2 million SMEs to improve energy efficiency. And,  it is needed at a time when Government  and council budgets and staff are being significantly reduced. And, at a time, when consumers and businesses are cutting their spending, reluctant to take on new debt and people are reluctant to change their lifestyle with according to Jonathon Porritt, only 25% or so believing that man made climate change is happening.

If the new Government is to be historically regarded as the greenest ever, they must therefore take a different approach to the last Government if they are to win the hearts and minds of the public. The time for debate, consultation and fine words is over.  No ifs, maybes or excuses. No more consultations. We need action NOW for the sake of the environment and our childrens' future. There will be no second chance. 

Problems

• Scale of the challenge is unprecedented -   Virtually no home has a solar energy system. 14 million homes don't have any insulation. 10 million have insufficiently insulated lofts. 10 million homes are hard to treat most requiring solid wall insulation. 3.6 million homes have inefficient heating boilers. More than 90% of the UK's 60 million consumers have high carbon lifestyles.
• Retrofit costs are huge -  Where is the money coming from? Solid wall insulation and solar systems cost over £10,000.
• Need for action is urgent -  at current rates, Government's carbon reduction targets will not be met 
• Weak business case -  from the homeowner's perspective, the benefits of improving energy efficiency are not as strong as they are for businesses. For solid wall insulation, the savings in energy bills are outweighed by the cost and hassle. The case for solar sytems is not yet proven.
• Inadequate demand - most of the UK's 60 million consumers have high carbon lifestyles and are not willing to reduce energy consumption if it means they have to change their lifestyle. There is no evidence that the owners of 10 million hard to treat homes will be willing to take on a PAYS obligation under the forthcoming Green Deal. Uptake rates of existing domestic energy savings schemes are less than 30%.
• Duplication of effort and cost -  overlapping schemes, research, consultations, workshops, quangos and projects. And, no joined up thinking.
• Public sector led strategy is not working -  quangos and environmentalists find it difficult to accept that energy efficiency has to be sold to consumers. Sales unfortunately, is regarded as a dirty word by many instead of a needed, professional skill. The NOS for Home Energy Advisers has no training module on how to sell, communicate and persuade homeowners to change behaviour / attitude. Hence low uptake rates. 
• Insufficient skills - from sales professionals to home energy advisers and solid wall installers.
• Labour's communication strategy didn't work  - instead of  engaging consumer facing organisations,  £million of taxpayers money was wasted on consultancy reports stating the obvious and on marketing that turned consumers off with no follow up. Marketing without sales never works.  

If the Government's forthcoming Green Deal is therefore to work, questions that will need to be addressed include:

Councils
Government wants councils to lead the effort. As budgets and jobs are cut , will they be able to justify spending time and money on improving the energy efficiency of homes instead of on maintaining front line services? Will residents demand councils protect front line services instead of the environment?

Uptake rates on council led projects such as the LDA's RE:NEW are less than 30% even though energy efficiency measures are being offered for free. How can uptake rates be improved? A street by street approach is a nice theory but will it work in private housing areas? Whilst councils can help improve social housing, can they succeed in private housing? The biggest polluters are the wealthy owners of large detached houses. How can we persuade these people to act? 

Councils have to outsource retrofitting. If their appointed agents do not perform and uptake rates remain low, will residents' trust in councils be undermined? 

Industry
Will a critical mass of consumer-facing organisations establish 'green' services of interest to customers and employees? How can retailers, banks, estate agents and other consumer facing organisations be persuaded to establish grren servcies and promote the Green Deal? Only three retailers currently offer insulation referral schemes - M & S; Tesco and B & Q . Why so few? Is there a good enough ROI for retailers and banks to get involved? Only B & Q participates in the PAYS pilots. No banks or building societies tendered for PAYS let alone participated. 

Homeowners
Will homeowners install solar energy systems? Will the owners of 10 million hard to treat homes act? No market research of any significant size has been carried out to ask them if they would be willing to take on a PAYS obligation.  Will they object to altering the exterior look of their homes? Will neighbours object to them doing this? Will local councils object to the facade of  victorian and georgian homes being altered? Will buyers be put off purchasing homes with a modern facade? Could solid wall insulation adversely affect property value instead of increasing it? Will buyers be prepared to takeover an obligation originally incurred by the seller? Will they seek to renegotiate the purchase price?

Funding
Where will the Green Investment Bank obtain it's funding? Will it be able to obtain funding at sufficently attractive rates if the UK's credit rating is lowered?

For PAYS obligations greater than £10,000, the savings in energy bills will not cover repayments. How will this gap be bridged? Will Government provide a subsidy to well off people owning hard to treat homes as well as those in fuel poverty? Repaying loans for solar energy systems could take 10 years or more.

Energy suppliers will be expected to provide 2/3rd of the funding required through CERT which they will raise by increasing energy bills. Is it right that taxpayers including tenants and the fuel poor subsidise work to improve the homes of the better off? Is it right that CERT obligations are only put on energy suppliers? Should banks be bought into the picture given Government effectively owns some?

Stakeholder engagement
To deliver action on the scale and speed required,  EVERY individual and organisation needs to play their part. Organisations that have historically not worked together now need to do so. Will they? Will vested interests handicap delivery? Can consensus on a way forward be agreed with all stakeholders? Public and voluntary sector stakeholders do not fully understand the interests and concerns of private sector stakeholders and vice versa. How can this gap be bridged? The green movement wants more regulation and legislation. The new Government and homeowners wants less. How can this gap be bridged?  

How the Green Deal will be delivered is not clear and it seems to me that a huge assumption is being made that homeowners will take on a PAYS obligation when it is launched in late 2012 despite there being no evidence to indicate this will happen. I am not aware of a plan B.

A clear delivery plan must therefore be agreed before then between Government, councils, the private sector, green movement and voluntary sectors to which they all buy in, and I will be doing my bit to ensure this happens.