Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
…these blazes, daughter
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both
So, according to the Government and the car industry, the cash-for-old-bangers’ saw more than 15,000 people buying a new car as a direct result.
The Car Scrappage Scheme gives motorists a £2,000 incentive to trade in vehicles over 10 years old for new car and is already being hailed a success since July car sales increased by 2.4% last month, the first rise in a year.
The Government is reportedly “delighted” with the response to the scheme, both in terms of the boost to the car industry and because, they say, newer vehicles represent 25% lower C02 emissions.
So, with the template in place, isn’t it time we looked around at other areas where such scrappage schemes might be equally beneficial? Such as boilers, for example.
Mick Williams, md of plumbers merchants Williams & Co in Portsmouth, certainly thinks so and his petition to get a Boiler Scrappage Scheme set up has been lodged on the Downing Street website.
It’s a great idea and one that has already generated a lot of support on Twitter and on this website and amongst the installer trade press.
According to the Energy Saving Trust if everyone in the UK with gas central heating installed a high efficiency condensing boiler, we would save enough energy to heat 3.4 million homes for a whole year and save around 13 million tonnes of CO2. Not to mention the business that would be generated for merchants and installers. Oh yes, and people would save a tonne of money on their heating bills too.
In the early days of the condensing boiler market there were a number of Energy Savings Trust cash-back deals which provided much-needed boosts to a growing market sector.
True, the high efficiency sector is now the dominant one and the catalyst for that was the government making high efficiency boilers mandatory a few years ago. But just think how many thousands, hundreds of thousands probably, of old, inefficient boilers are out there, working their little hearts out for less and less return. They haven’t actually broken down yet, so their owners are unlikely to put them out of their misery until they do. Because there’s no incentive for them to do so.
The petition needs 500 signatories before the government has to make a written response.
Go on, follow the link and sign it now. You know it makes sense.
