Every eco friendly blog or website will always make the same argument for sustainable technology, such as solar panels. They will say that if you are willing to invest in the environmentally friendly technology, then in the long run you will save yourself money and help the environment. Whilst this is true, and clearly the biggest incentive for all homeowners around the UK, what other incentives are there for the average consumer to take advantage of? This article looks to reveal the sustainable grants you are entitled to if you are willing to invest in eco-friendly building solutions.

What grants are you entitled to?

First to clarify the grants you are entitled to and the ones you will want to look up if you are looking to be rewarded for reducing your carbon footprint. The first is a Feed in Tariff (FIT), which is policy that has been designed by the government to reward the average household consumer for adopting the use of renewable energy sources. The government will pay a premium price to any household or business for creating their own "green electricity".

The second and more recent grant is what is known as the renewable heat incentive, which again is a scheme to reward individuals, businesses and communities who are willing to switch from traditional fossil fuels to heat their home, and instead start using renewable fuels such as wood pellets. Both these tariffs have been put in place by the Government to help increase the level of renewable energy in the UK towards our legally binding target of 15% of total energy from renewable sources by 2020 (which was under 2% in 2009).

How these schemes help?

Feed in Tariffs have three financial incentives which you will benefit from if you are willing to invest in technology such as solar panels. The first is a payment for all the electricity you generate. In this case you will still get paid even if you don’t use the energy yourself. Then you will be entitled to an additional bonus for any electricity which is exported back to the grid. The additional benefit of course is that you will receive a reduced energy bill.

This is very similar for the renewable heat incentive, as you will earn a fixed income for every kilowatt hour of heat you produce. Also, if you are connected to a heat network, you will be entitled to an additional payment for exporting excess heat.

What are these schemes willing to pay?

For Feed in Tariffs the amount you receive will differ for every household, as the size of your home/building, its age, and any technology within your household/offices will affect the payment you receive. The amount you could receive for a Feed in Tariff varies depending on the technology, the scale and the kilowatts produced every hour. So it’s best to do a bit of research into your home and the payments on offer to find out the answer to this question.

So there you have it, here are the extra incentives that have been put in place to push the UK’s sustainability efforts, and to help the consumer with their finances. It would be silly to think that you should now look to implement both of these schemes, as the cost to set it up will be extremely high, but we do hope you consider one of them as a possibility for the future, and collectively help to save our environment.