Colin Hines and I have this letter in the Guardian this morning:
Zoe Williams is right: another credit crunch-induced “crash” is likely and the only affordable rescue package will be some form of quantitative easing (With Britain's addition to debt, another crash is certain, 4 September). This time it must generate jobs for the “left behind” and others, rather than today's beneficiaries — the property- and share-owning rich. The Green New Deal group showed the potential of such an approach in its proposal for a £50bn-a-year green infrastructure QE programme.
This would pay to make the UK's 28m dwellings and 2m commercial and public sector buildings super energy efficient, dramatically reducing energy bills, fuel poverty and greenhouse gas emissions. It could also tackle the housing crisis by building affordable, highly insulated homes, predominantly on brownfield sites. This form of QE would provide job security and local business opportunities in every constituency, since its infrastructure improvements would take place across the UK.
Such an approach is feasible, since the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, in responding to questions from Green New Deal group member Caroline Lucas MP, is on record as saying that if the government requested it, QE could be used to buy assets other than government debt. He and the government should work on this jobs-everywhere approach. If they don't, Labour could be on to a winner with its “peoples QE” proposal to fund economic improvements nationwide.
Prof Richard Murphy
City, University of London
Colin Hines
Convenor, UK Green New Deal Group
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Where would the Green Investment Bank (Macquarie) fit in, or would it?
As it is now, not at all
We’ll just have to make a new one
Well said, and we know this can work as it has already been tried at a lower scale with the government’s Ecofund. Some renovations and improvements including energy-efficient cladding for public housing have already been funded by securing a grant from said Ecofund.
It’s time to turn up the burner and roll the Green QE principle out more extensively to every constituency.
Good stuff!
It would help not to generalize but there quite a number of shares less than they where 10+ years ago plus there are areas of the country below they were 10 years ago.
We had an eco-house built 5 years ago. We aimed for Passivhaus standard – didn’t quite make it, but it costs zilch to heat and power, thanks to the high insulation, solar gain and pv panels and the FIT’s. (We give our WFP to local charities)
We have the technology for both new and retro-fit. But there is the problem of the major house builders with, among other things, their land banks and their desire to cram as many boxes into a site as will maximise their profits and a likely disinclination to work to higher standards.
The Govt has also slashed the FIT’s when we should have Pv panels on every suitable roof. (perhaps those without suitable roofs should be compensated in some other way)
There’s also the problem of up-skilling a workforce, many of whom are accustomed to bodging (in our experience). The key to high performance housing is the detailing. You can’t just throw a triple- or quadruple- glazed window into an opening, squirt liberal dollops of foam everywhere and expect it to perform to spec.
Some of these problems can be addressed through legislation – planning and building code changes. Creating a better skilled workforce (not just the brickies, but architects, planners, surveyors, managers etc as well) will take time and money.
However, the £50n investment (or more) will probably pay for itself in many ways, not least by the improved health outcomes, mental as well as physical, of the population.