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With natural gas & oil running low in the North Sea, Britain is resorting to importing more and more of its energy needs.
Renewable energy is also on the agenda and yet the prices are constantly on the rise. Take yesterday’s gas price hikes from the French firm EDF – consumer gas prices up 19% due to the increased wholesale prices they say.
Well, if you want to see if you can save on your annual heating bills, then a trip to UK Power may be just the ticket. Make sure you check out their green tariffs.
Northern Ireland’s Green Energy Push
According to Secretary of State, Peter Hain, the Government of Northern Ireland is proposing changes to the Building Regulations to make renewable energy generation compulsory on all new builds from 2008.
That means that within 2 years it will be mandatory that all new homes, company and public buildings will be micro-generating energy via solar panels (to heat hot water) and solar photo-voltaic panels or small wind turbines to self-generate electricity.
“Changes will come into effect in November that will result in a 40 per cent reduction in emission and set onerous targets to encourage the use of renewables.”
Launching the £8m renewable energy Household Programme in Comber, County Down, Mr Hain added that:
“Northern Ireland is leading the rest of the UK in renewable energy and the Government is introducing initiatives to stimulate the use of green energy across the board.”
The Household Programme is part of the Environment & Renewable Energy Fund announced by Mr Hain back in February and is run by Action Renewables alongside the Energy Saving Trust and Northern Ireland Energy Action.
Under the programme grants will be available to install renewable energy systems in some 4,000 exisiting households with families on low income and social housing set to benefit from 100% grants to install solar hot water systems.
Mr Hain’s promotion of renewable energy is rooted in his own practical experience, where installing photo-voltaic panels on his home in Wales has reduced his energy bills by 50%.