The Government's long awaited Green Deal has been launched today, with the aim of improving the energy efficiency of the UK's buildings.
The flagship environmental policy promises householders and businesses the opportunity to transform their homes or offices by paying for energy efficient improvements such as insulation and new heating systems with the savings on their energy bills.

From today, households in England and Wales who use the Green Deal to make energy saving home improvements will also qualify for hundreds of pounds of cashback from the Green Deal Cashback Scheme. The more work households decide to have done, the more cash they could receive and packages could be worth over £1,000.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: 'The Green Deal will help thousands of homes stay warm for less. Those people will benefit from energy saving improvements - and their energy bills will fall. The UK green sector is a success story - it is the sixth largest in the world and has a crucial part to play in building a strong economy. The Green Deal will support thousands of jobs - not just over the next few years, but in the long-term.'

The Government has also unveiled a nationwide communications campaign to tell people about the scheme called 'Green Deal with it'. In addition, a new toolkit produced by the Centre for Sustainable Energy has been published. It aims to help community groups get involved in making the Green Deal work in their neighbourhoods.

Commenting on the launch, Paul King of the UK Green Building Council, said in a blog: 'Against the odds home energy efficiency has survived as a flagship government priority. And a good thing too, because it can not only help people across the UK insulate themselves from inevitable energy price hikes to come, it can create jobs for local contractors and tradesmen, it can stimulate economic activity, and it can contribute to the nation's energy security.'

Myles McCarthy, managing director, Implementation Services, at the Carbon Trust, said: 'Finance is a key barrier to energy efficiency which the Green Deal could help overcome. It will be interesting to see however if the Green Deal alone will be enough to drive the uptake of energy efficiency.

'We know from our eleven year experience that energy efficiency can make perfect sense for businesses and households as it can cut energy bills, generate real savings and help drive emission reductions in the process. But motivating individuals and businesses to act is not easy. Extra incentives and drivers may well be required.'

Last week, an alliance of more than 100 energy companies, charities and businesses, co-ordinated through Energy Bill Revolution, sent a letter to David Cameron warning that Britain is heading for a fuel poverty crisis due to a failure of government policy. The group warned that the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation initiatives are insufficient to halt the increase in fuel poverty or put an end to hardship.

For more information on the Green Deal visit www.gov.uk/greendeal