As winter comes ever closer we start to feel blue, both with the temperatures going down and our energy consumption and costs going up!

Do not despair, there is help at hand with great financial deals for adopting renewable energy sources which will help you both improve your green footprint and control your costs. You will find there are a wide variety of renewable energy sources you could choose from; wind power, solar water heating, solar electric panels and a range of heat pump options including air source, ground source and waste heat recovery systems. For information on the available renewable energy building products, renewable energy suppliers and up to date advice from professional associations, you need to look no further than the information on Wholebuild.

Government Cashback Scheme

Did you know that there is government legislation that guarantees payments for providing energy back into the national grid? The scheme is called the ‘Clean Energy Cashback Scheme’, based on the ‘Feed in Tarrifs’ (FITs) introduced by the Department of Energy & Climate Change. FITs as these are called are explained in this article by the Renewable Energy Association or you can watch a video by the MD of Eaga on how the FIT tariff funded the fitting of their Photo Voltaic (PV) systems.

Free Installation of PV Panels?

Some suppliers are offering free installation of PV panels on suitable roofs (provided you have at least 10SqM of free space of south facing roof space, on the basis of energy sharing or exclusive use of the energy generated for the first 10 years or so. With some estimates of the total life cost benefit of such a system being £20k - £35k over a 25-year lifespan, it may however be worthwhile to pay for the installation and get the FIT benefits direct to offset the capital cost.

Other Renewable Energy Sources

PV systems may be the talk of the moment with regards to the FIT scheme, however there are many ways to save on your heating costs with other renewable energy options and using products that provide better insulation.

Geothermal heating provides a constant heat source, and although the ambient air temperatures may go down to well below zero in winter, the temperature 1.5m – 2m underground is stable all year at 8DegC – 12DegC which can be used as low grade heat to pre-warm the heating in winter or to provide chilling in summer. You can read tips and advice on these systems here. There are also innovative products such as the Thermapave system from Hanson Formpave that enables car parking space to be used to provide a geothermal heat source.

Air source heat pump systems are generally easier to install than ground source systems, see this FAQ from Activeair, and air source systems use either environmental air as the heat source or heat recovered from waste air using a Mechanical Ventilation Heating and Ventilation (MVHR) system, fitted with ducting systems such as those from Polypipe.

Wind power systems provide direct electricity generation, and range from small systems suitable for outbuildings through to systems for domestic and commercial properties and very large systems used by the utility companies. The design of wind turbines have come on in recent years and designs such as the ‘Windbuster’ from SAeB use vertical blades to eliminate the need for the turbine to be facing into the wind. The Centre for Alternative Technology provide a range of guidance on selecting and installing wind turbines.

An article from Clean Energy Cashback provides a good overview of the green energy options available.

More Information

For more information on sustainable solutions and innovative building products, visit our website at www.wholebuild.co.uk, or contact us on 0845 527 47 40 or 01892 882 540.