Funding awarded to assess the Green Deal’s attractiveness to householders

Norwich Business School and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have won funding to assess how the Government's new Green Deal scheme will influence UK householders towards improving the energy efficiency of their homes.

The two-year research project will be the first of its kind to evaluate how the Green Deal incentives can be made attractive to potential customers. The scheme is intended to improve the energy efficiency of British properties by enabling consumers to make energy-savings. Customers can install energy efficient improvements to their homes with no upfront cost and pay later through instalments on their energy bill.

The funding of £355,000 comes from the UK Energy Research Centre and has been awarded to Dr George Chryssochoidis of Norwich Business School and Dr Charlie Wilson of the Tyndall Centre. The Low Carbon Innovation Centre at UEA is also participating and DIY retailer B&Q is a partner in the research.

Dr Chryssochoidis said: “Our study will bring together business, economics and consumer behaviour research to examine how the Green Deal might best engage with consumers, through better understanding why they buy low energy products and how to motivate more people to do so. Ultimately this research will help to reduce the UK’s energy use and carbon emissions.”

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Notes to Editors 
1.    For further information contact Dr George Chryssochoidis at Norwich Business School on +44 (0)1603 592694/  g.chryssochoidis@uea.ac.uk, or the UEA Communications Office on +44 (0)1603 593496/ press@uea.ac.uk
2.    Norwich Business School is one of the largest schools at the University of East Anglia, providing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Norwich and at UEA London.  Ranked 8th in the UK for Business & Economics (Shanghai Jiao tong University World Rankings) it has a history of innovation including launching the world’s first MBA in Strategic Carbon Management in 2007. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise 90% of its research was ranked of international quality and the school has now developed a significant research cluster addressing business in the low-carbon economy. 
3.    The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has been researching sustainable responses to climate change since 2000. It is a partnership of the University of East Anglia and the Universities of Cambridge, Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Sussex and Southampton. The Fudan University Tyndall Centre has recently been launched in Shanghai.
4.    The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) carries out world-class research into sustainable future energy systems. It is the hub of UK energy research and the gateway between the UK and the international energy research communities and its research informs UK policy development and research strategy. UKERC is funded by the UK Research Councils.