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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:29 pm Post subject: British householders should produce their own energy |
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Greener power to the people: the real energy alternative?
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Ministers could avoid building nuclear reactors by encouraging families to fit solar panels and other renewable energy equipment to their homes, a startling official report concludes.
The government-backed report, to be published tomorrow, says that, with changed policies, the number of British homes producing their own clean energy could multiply to one million � about one in every three � within 12 years.
These would produce enough power to replace five large nuclear power stations, tellingly at about the same time as the first of the much-touted new generation of reactors is likely to come on stream.
And, it adds, by 2030, such "microgeneration" would save the same amount of emissions of carbon dioxide � the main cause of global warming � as taking all Britain's lorries and buses off the road.
The conclusions of the report � approved and partly financed by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) � sharply contrast with initiatives hurriedly launched by Gordon Brown last week in reaction to the lorry drivers' fuel-price protests.
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Everyone should be rewarded (tax credits etc) for getting off the grid!!! |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes, I agree. The government should be creating incentives for this sort of thing. The UK is not very progressive in this respect, unfortunately. |
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Paddycakes
Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Relying on solar energy and grey and rainy England... hmmm..... |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| Paddycakes wrote: |
| Relying on solar energy and grey and rainy England... hmmm..... |
I don't think the idea is to rely solely on it. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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| You can make fuel from human waste, otherwise known as shite. I saw a video of a farmer in India heating his whole house with pig dung. I can't see why we can't make fuel from shite. |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:29 am Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Paddycakes wrote: |
| Relying on solar energy and grey and rainy England... hmmm..... |
I don't think the idea is to rely solely on it. |
Actually photovoltaic solar panels, depending on their design and weather conditions, are still able to produce up to 75% of the electricity they produce on a sunny day. Obviously the solution is to install extra capacity so that a solar retrofitted house can produce more electricity than it needs, and sell the excess capacity back to the local power utility.
The traditional big barrier to installing photovoltaic solar panels for homes and residences has always been the capital costs. When I lived in Ottawa 20 years ago, I looked into how much it would cost to retrofit our house...it was going to amount to around $14,000, just for a system that would provide household electricity, not hot water or home heating in winter. Most people don't have that cash to spend, and it's traditionally been very difficult to get a bank loan to solar retrofit your house.
In Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation offers mortgage insurance to first-time home buyers, which makes mortgages a risk-free business for banks. The housing market in Canada exploded in the 1950s after they first started offering it...more than 500,000 new homes were built in Canada between 1951 and 1956. If the British or Canadian governments were to offer a similar loan insurance program for people who take out loans to solar retrofit their homes, it would be a great step in the right direction. |
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