The Government gave the wrong message when they scrapped solar panel subsidies / loans / grants. Same for the scrapping of the Feed-In tariffs. The new “Smart Export Guarantee” doesn’t seem to be so attractive - for some Feed-In tariffs, companies would install the panels for free, the consumer would get the energy savings, but then the provider would get the Feed-In benefits; everyone was happy.
A typical solar panel installation could cost around £5000 or more; payback time for the energy savings can be up to 10 yrs. Obviously, building “green” technology as part of original housing construction phase is simpler, cheaper & much more cost effective. Mandate such technology = cheaper prices per unit.
In EU, they are way ahead of use for eco-friendly legislation relating to housing construction. The Dutch have been leaders on this for a while - they even want to stop the use of gas within houses!
However, you can’t build carbon-neutral / 100% energy efficient housing in the middle of nowhere - the transport “footprint” would totally negate the housing energy benefits`!