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Ecobuild: Industry reaction to PAYS

2/3/2010

Building4change asked people at the show to give their reaction to Pay As You Save, and found its potential could go way beyond the individual homeowner.

As the Ecobuild 2010 show opened at London's Earl's Court, energy minister Ed Miliband was outlining the government's new Pay As You Save (PAYS) green loans for home energy improvements in DECC's Warm homes, greener homes strategy.

Building4change asked a few of the visitors and exhibitors at the show to give their reaction to PAYS. Many supported the introduction of green loans, and some saw the potential for the model to be applied on a large scale by big financial players.

Here's a sample of the views from the show:

"It's a good scheme, but the devil will be in the detail", Gordon Miller, High Barnet Green Home Zone

"PAYS helps people to think about energy saving", David McEwan, UK director, Integrated Environmental Solutions

"This type of scheme is being run effectively in the US, and it's a good business model. This could be attractive to pension funds. A split between energy and residential investment could be a stable long-term investment." David Rees, partner, Davis Langdon

"Anything where you can bring the product (photovoltaics) to a wider audience has to be good. At the show so far, we've been showing this product to a certain type of homeowner, with a fairly large property. We're not seeing people with £150,000 homes. That's the market PAYS could help open up." Richard Hartley, head of marketing, Redland.

Arup chairman of global planning Peter Head also referred to the government's announcement in his debate in the main arena, and like Davis Langdon's Rees Head saw greater potential, saying, "places could call on pension funds to help them carry out improvements along the lines of the model announced today."