John Doggart, chairman and founder of the Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA), talks to Juliet Heller about the challenges facing the Government’s Green Deal, which is due to come in at the end of next year.

The Green Deal plans to roll out retrofits on existing buildings across the country, helping us achieve the carbon emission reductions of 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. It will provide loans for energy efficiency which apply to the house rather than the owner and aim to be a ‘one-stop shop’ giving advice on grants and other information. Service suppliers like M&S and B&Q are expected to play a major role.

The SEA runs the Old Home Superhome Project which won an Ashden Award in 2009 for encouraging people to green their older properties by ‘superhome’ owners opening their doors to the public. As a member of the Existing Homes Alliance, SEA has helped prepare a report and recommendations for the Government on how to accelerate low carbon retrofits across the UK. The report supports the Green Deal, but sets out some of the practical challenges to bringing it in:

“There is substantial work to be done on developing the policies, frameworks and mechanisms that will make the Green Deal a success.”

John Doggart believes the biggest challenge is increasing capacity:

Juliet's SuperHome was featured on last night's Anglia Tonight. It's online now. The intro runs:

For many of us, winter energy bills are a huge worry- but now a family from Essex have been showing how achieving 'superhome' status can change that. The refurbished house in Tollesbury has reduced its carbon footprint by at least 60 per cent.

How to turn a small, cold, dark house into a SuperHome
This Sunday you can visit Juliet's SuperHome

We've just checked the stats to see which blog had the most visits last month. The winner was the solar-powered lamp, with Juliet's SuperHome (a late entry) attracting a lot of interest in the last few days. Jo's visit to the biogas plant at SKG - published in March - is still in the Top 10.

1. Will solar-powered lamp be 100th Object of the World? (12 October 2010)
2. How to turn a small, cold, dark house into a SuperHome (27 October 2010)
3. Didcot pilots an energy source close to home (5 October 2010)
4. What the twitterverse thinks of the 100th Object (14 October 2010)
5. When electricity boards went on the offensive (27 October 2010)
6. Mike set to save £500-£600 on gas and electricity (29 October 2010)
7. Solar-powered lamp revealed as 100th Object (14 October 2010)
8. Brazil's ex-energy minister could become 'most powerful woman in the world' (7 October 2010)
9. Jo sees installation of biogas plant at SKG (10 March 2010)

As part of Energy Saving Week, Juliet Heller, the Ashden Awards Media and PR Manager, writes about moving to Essex and converting an Edwardian terraced house that had felt "small, cold and dark" into an officially-accredited SuperHome. The aim was to show how green an old house could be.