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bernie-woman
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire
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 Posted: Tue Nov 09, 04 8:58 am Post subject: Going green pays its way? |
 
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In light of the following article does anyone have any idea of costs of installing solar panels. We would like to install some solar panels but are hopefully not going to be in this house longer than another 7 years and are not sure whether it would be worth it financially. Would the resulting value of our house go up?
Going green pays its way
Millions of pounds in grants are being thrown at homeowners canny enough to cash in on a range of energy-saving schemes, reports Zoe Brennan of The Sunday Times
Everybody enjoys a sunny day but when the sun shines for the Williams family, their electricity meter runs backwards — thanks to government-subsidised solar panels on their roof.
Martyn Williams, 35, had long wanted his home to be as energy-efficient as possible, but his �20,000 salary ruled out grand gestures. Then he applied to the government- funded Energy Saving Trust, which agreed to pay a �10,000 subsidy — half the cost — for installing solar panels on the family’s three-storey Victorian home in Hackney, east London.
Since the roof needed repairs, which would have cost �5,000, it became a win-win project for Williams, an environmental campaigner for Friends of the Earth (FoE), and his wife Sarah, a GP.
“Since we installed the panels in December 2002, they have provided four-fifths of our total electricity needs,” says Williams. “We pay only about �20 a year for our energy — even though with a baby daughter, Ruth, we run the washing machine all the time. When the sun shines, the electricity meter runs backwards and the energy being harnessed by our roof panels goes into the local grid through our provider, Good Energy. This gives us credits against electricity we use in the winter.”
The cash is there for the asking. The government, energy suppliers and local authorities offer aid for small-scale improvements such as cavity-wall insulation, loft insulation, draught-proofing and a more efficient washing machine. The Energy Saving Trust acts as a one-stop shop for grants. “The type and amount of grant you could get depends on where you live,” says Philip Sellwood, head of the trust. “Utility companies are obliged to spend �400m a year helping customers make their homes efficient.”
For solar panels alone — or photovoltaics, as they are known — the government has provided �20m to be spent over three years, giving grants of up to half the cost. Over the past two years, the costs of solar panels have almost halved — meaning the money will stretch even further.
The average household spends about �610 each year on energy, according to FoE, which believes homeowners could easily cut that by a third. Heat loss alone costs the average British homeowner up to �200 a year.
Where to get grants: visit www.saveenergy.co.uk/grants and fill in your postcode for details of all available grants. They include:
Government aid from �500 to �5,000 towards installing renewable energy technologies (www.clear-skies.org)
Half the costs of installing solar panels like the Williams’ (www.est.co.uk/solar)
The Warm Front grant, worth up to �2,500, for people who either lack central heating or whose boiler has broken down, from the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (0800 512 012). |
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jema
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex
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bernie-woman
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex
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sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex
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sean
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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bernie-woman
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex
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sean
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 04 10:33 am Post subject: |
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Interesting bit about the sellers packs from today's Independent:
Overview: Sellers' packs could prove very useful ... for ministers
By Penny Jackson
10 November 2004
Cast your minds back a few years to the time when sellers' packs were called just that and the main purpose was to speed up property sales and knock gazumping on the head.
Pilot schemes came and went and the debate has carried on with opinion fiercely divided about whether the home information pack (HIP), as it is now called, would indeed improve the buying and selling process.
The case has still not been made convincingly, as the House of Lords demonstrated last week when it voted for the packs to be voluntary not mandatory as the Government wants. Indeed, it regards the HIP as a key element of its Housing Bill.
It does, though, beg the question as to why the Government should be so insistent on introducing such a controversial scheme.
It cites the �350m wasted each year on aborted transactions as a pressing reason for reform and the public might well wonder why anyone would wish to oppose a measure designed to oil the wheels of house purchase. But is it just the public interest the Government has at heart?
In 2007, the date pencilled in to start the scheme, all homes on the market will need an energy efficiency report in order to comply with an EU directive.
The director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy pointed this out after this column had made a case for voluntary HIPs.
Whatever happens to this part of the Housing Bill, he said, "there will still be a requirement for a full survey of all the energy-use particulars of each home under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive".
Could it be, then, that by insisting on a home condition report, this element could be provided at a lower cost if it were part of a number of checks to be paid for by the homeowner? If, indeed, this is a motive, then discussing it publicly would be a more honest approach than masquerading under the banner of public interest.
Likewise, a spin-off from the home condition reports, which form a major part of HIPs, would be a database on the state of the nation's homes - undoubtedly extremely useful, but not an aim of the HIP as far as the public is concerned.
Looking at who stands to gain most - financially and politically - from the pack would be a useful exercise. One thing is for sure, the idea that it is all about gazumping should have been ditched long ago.
Cheers, Sean |
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alison
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
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