Originally posted @ 6:53 am, Tue 3rd Jun 2008
A Government report published today highlights the potential for generating heat and power in our own homes.
British buildings equipped with solar panels, mini wind turbines and other renewable energy sources could generate as much electricity a year as five nuclear power stations, a government-backed industry report has shown.
A large-scale switch to micro renewable energy units could save 30m tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of nearly 5% of all the emissions produced in generating UK electricity, the study found.
The report, commissioned by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, said if the government offered the right combination of loans, grants and incentives, nearly 10m "microgeneration systems" could be installed by 2020, significantly reducing Britain's emissions and energy costs.
It estimated there are nearly 100,000 of the units installed in Britain, including about 90,000 solar water heaters and limited numbers of biomass boilers, photovoltaic sunlight-to-electricity converters, heat pumps, fuel cells and small-scale hydroelectric and windpower schemes.
I understand that Britain's ability to source energy through trade and empire has given us a different culture from northern Europe where the emphasis on generating your own heat and power and then not wasting it is much higher.
But it is a real shame that we're not bolder on requiring higher insulation standards and moving towards requiring heat pumping in new properties.
There'd be lots of issues to deal with but knowing it's always 12 degrees Centigrade 20 - 30 foot down means you can supply heating and cooling with one system. And it's easier to do if you install the systems as you build.
I imagine the report doesn't cover 2 important political factors -
1. for owner-occupiers, installing such equipment is a way of investing in their property, in a way that increasing power stations never is; and it reduces the energy bills;
2. such an approach would be good for the construction sector and would mean more local jobs for local people and local businesses.
My hunch is that heat-pumping and solar thermal are the most viable ways forward; photovoltaics less so (unless the costs come down significantly) and domestic wind turbines seemed to have hit a lot of snags. CHP would be more viable if we could allow homes to supply surplus power back to the grid.
Meanwhile, we mustn't lose sight of the need for insulation.
At the recent Nottingham Green Festival, I was told of insulation for fitting below the roof rafters that might be viable for those who already have their lofts used as storage space and can't build a raised frame and floor.
And shops are now selling energy monitors to allow you to see constantly how much power you're drawing.
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Postcript -
I'm grateful to my mate Phil for further advice from which ....
6 years ago it was estimated that there were 40,000 solar thermal systems and but there have been low numbers of installations coming through the Low Carbon Building Programme since.
Only 275 PV systems were installed last year. There are several reasons for this; perhaps the most important factor is the lack of consistency in the administration of grants for renewables with constantly changing rules and new registers for installers with prohibitive fees.
3 years ago there were 143 accredited solar thermal installers on the Government grant scheme, now there are 23.
Also the Low Carbon Building Programme rules only allow public sector applicants to go to 6 providers i.e. 6 companies whose range of products is highly restrictive.
One lesson to be learnt from the lack of progress in small scale renewables it is that we need to take an interest in the detail of delivery as well as policy.
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