HOMEOWNERS will be able to apply for £1.5m worth of grants for insulation and energy improvements from February.
And the grants could cover everything from low energy lightbulbs and better insulation, to ‘energy audits’ to show householders how they could save power and money off their bills.
Environment Minister Freddie Cohen is consulting the Environment Forum and the Environmental Think Tank, the latter co-chaired by former diplomat Sir Nigel Broomfield and Lee Durrell, on how to apply the grants.
He says he wants a system up and running by February, and that he will run a consultation in 2009, to see if Islanders want to pay environmental taxes to fund the grants continuously. If not, he says they will have to end after a year.
Article posted on 7th October, 2008 - 2.57pm
3 Article Comments
Great for those who can afford to own their own home in the first place !
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Great, but! When will the planners, or more to the point, their political masters realize that there is more to the green agenda then throwing cash at a problem.
A fuel efficient building may look different to the traditional Jersey house because a green building is an integrated package of design features. Don’t know what I mean/? Then just look at Part N of Building Regulations.
If Environment Minister Freddie Cohen wants to demonstrate a practical grasp of ‘green planning’, just mandate triple grazing, or some such measure, as a priority over fake and cosmetic granite corbel. A clear and unambiguous statement of intent.
OK, not all of us are Green by inclination, but quite a few of us have good old Jersey thrift in our blood. I have gone Green because it makes economic sense.
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Having paid my own money to ensure I have an energy efficient home, I would oppose an Environmental Tax as I have already oulaid several thousand pounds already! You should tax the inefficient use of energy at source.
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