<p>The Green Deal - in which environmental improvements to existing houses are funded by future savings on energy bills - should be extended to new homes, housing minister Grant Shapps said today.</p> <p>Speaking at the Zero Carbon Hub's inaugural annual conference, organised by Housebuilder, Shapps said: "I think we should extend the Green Deal to new build homes too. This would allow developers to recover the cost of providing energy efficiency solutions while the buyer's repayments would be no more than the savings on future energy bills. It would be a win win. I would like to get the industry's view on this."</p> <p>At the conference - which included keynote speeches from Barratt chief Mark Clare and Crest boss Stephen Stone as well as the minister - the Hub announced that it had secured funding to March 2012 to continue its work facilitating the mainstream delivery of low and zero carbon homes.</p>