Could the government be doing more to help the recession? Should the government be doing more with regard to sustainable housing and greener building practices on the whole? Friends of the Earth certainly think so, and it seems that maybe ministers themselves are realising that green issues are not something that will go away, but are a concern for everybody and a responsibility that people in power need to awaken to and do something about.

Last month the government announced plans to reduce household fuel bills and implement policies and processes to cut emissions, but have factored in four years for these plans to be implemented. Executive Director at Friends of the Earth, Andy Atkins said “An ambitious target to cut household emissions by a third by 2020 is certainly needed to help meet the challenge we face – but this won’t be achieved if we wait four years for major work to begin.”

To return to my first question, if the government were to invest money into small scale energy production for new and existing building projects, this could be just the lifeline factories and their employees have been waiting for. Throwing money into failing industries that nobody can afford to buy into just postpones the inevitable and doesn’t offer much hope long term for employees, never mind tax payers and the economy as a whole. However investment in key areas such as solar and wind technologies would give purpose to the factories, meaning they don’t end up being shut down, gives advances to greener technology to help the government reach targets for emissions reductions, and would also potentially create thousands of jobs. Win-win?