Green Deal title is too ‘Green’

Energy efficiency? yes please. Green Deal – what’s that about then?

69% of survey respondents are interested in making energy efficient improvements to their homes, but 96% have never heard of the Green Deal.

Thinking about it, I’m increasingly of the view that the single biggest failing in the whole Green Deal launch is the title – because it doesn’t mean anything. We had something like this back in the 1970s: loft insulation grants. But they were actually called loft insulation grants, so everyone knew what was on offer, and why they might want to apply for it. But Green Deal…? Even if the public had heard of it, most of them wouldn’t have a clue what it meant.

Further thought – and this is actually turning into a rant: ‘green’ just isn’t a consumer turn-on. Cheaper bills – we like that. Warmer homes – we like that too. But does the word ‘green’ spell out cheaper and warmer? Emphatically not. If anything, it suggests the opposite, because it says that saving the planet is the primary concern, and saving the planet usually carries a cost premium.

Do you remember the speaker at last year’s NMBS All Industry conference who actually told the audience that when selling the Green Deal, they should avoid using the word green?

I think it’s time to accept that the launch of the Green Deal has been an embarrassing fiasco, go back to square one, find the bloke who thought up Green Deal as the name and fire him, then come up with a name that actually sells the consumer the consumer benefits, then relaunch it.

Yes, it will cost more and it will slow things down – but I strongly suspect that spending more on promoting the Green Deal right now is just throwing good money after bad.