In the words of JFK…

The iconic US president JFK famously exhorted the people to "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country".

Our own coalition government is using today’s economic meltdown to create a similar mood and promote a ‘can do’ attitude. The Green Deal is a crucial example. It is the lynchpin of the country’s entire energy strategy for homes and if we don’t like it, we can lump it because it is, literally, the only game in town.

The doubting has to stop and the work has to start. We are past the point of no return in energy wastage terms and now Chris Huhne and the rest of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) want us – the industry boiler upgrades, improving heating controls, fitting insulation and low energy lighting – to come up with solutions. The politicians are committed to the Green Deal and so will try to find ways of making it work. There is no point in us banging on about why it is flawed – we have to work with it.

And how can it be done? By keeping it simple, stupid. Focus on the sound, basic measures that work, such as www.mech-elec.org.uk . These things all work well and make a difference. We need to wrongfoot the Daily Mail brigade and deliver things that deliver savings, don’t cost much and don’t disrupt householders’ lives. And they all payback quickly, which means people can repay their green loans.
All of the things our industry is good at can be funded by the Green Deal. The fancy stuff – renewables and microgen – will have to wait until we have the basics in place. Then we can move onto those from a secure energy efficient platform.

The Green Deal is the only game in town, so let’s embrace it.