Make Money from your roof!
Kim has electricity-producing solar panels on the roof of her Balham house, and every six months she gets a cheque from her electricity supplier. After six months of winter, she gets between £60 and £80, but after six months of summer, she receives nearly £200. The money is what she makes from selling the electricity that her roof produces back to the National Grid: clean, green power from the sun.
"I don't have to do anything to maintain the panels," says Kim, who describes her current job as looking after four Burmese kittens. "I just watch the little meter ticking over, telling me how much energy they are producing. It's satisfying to know that the electricity I use and produce hasn't been created by burning fossil fuels."
Although the technology has been around for several years, Kim is still one of the few UK home owners to use solar pv (photovoltaics), as this form of power "microgeneration" is known.
The two main obstacles to more people installing the technology have been difficulty with planning permission, and the expense. Installing enough panels to produce the amount of electricity that Kim's are making costs between £8,000 and £12,000.
From this week, however, the first obstacle has been abolished. Homeowners will be able to install microgeneration equipment such as solar pv, solar thermal (hot water) and ground-source heat pumps without needing to obtain planning permission, so long as there is clearly no impact on neighbours' houses. Wind turbines are not yet exempt, but are likely to be soon.
Housing minister Caroline Flint says: "We want to make it easier to help people reduce their carbon footprint. Technology such as solar panels can make a real difference, but home owners can be put off by the time and expense of getting planning permission." The energy used to heat, light and run our homes accounts for 27 per cent of the UK's carbon emissions - about 40million tons. An estimated 100,000 households across the country have installed some kind of microgeneration equipment, and many more want to do so.
Eco Environments are able to provide you with a no obligation quote for the installation of Solar Panels or Solar Roof tiles. We will provide details of the cost of install, the energy savings and paybacks you would make, and the grants that are available to you. And if you wish to go ahead, we'll take care of everything from planning, to installation, to arranging with your energy supplier for you to export to them your surplus electricity.
Main Story source- Daily Telegraph 10/4/08
Return to article list