British building owners can now make money by generating renewable heat

The first scheme in the world that will pay owners of domestic buildings for generating renewable heat has been launched in the UK by Energy Minister Greg Barker (seen right with MP Chloe Smith opening a 'Mr Renewables showroom' at the beginning of April).

Like feed-in tariffs for generating renewable electricity from technologies such as photovoltaic solar panels, the financial incentive scheme offers householders a fixed amount per kilowatt-hour generated from various technologies, even though the heat is only consumed in the home and not made available for others (as with home-generated electricity that is fed into the electric grid).

Called the Renewable Heat Incentive, it is based on a similar scheme for business, the public sector and non-profit organisations, that has been in operation for some time in the UK, as well as a smaller domestic scheme aimed at solid-walled, hard-to-heat homes, called the Renewable Heat Premium Payment.

Property owners apply to all schemes through the Energy Saving Trust, a government-sponsored body which promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy at the domestic scale.

The purpose of the RHI is to stimulate the renewable heat industry in the same way that feed-in tariffs have done for the solar PV industry. This has seen remarkable growth in the last four years with the cost of a typical PV system installation dropping by more than half.

The UK Government and industry body the Solar Trade Association (STA) have a target of covering over one million roofs with solar thermal and solar PV panels by the end of 2015. Over 200,000 solar thermal systems are already installed in the UK.

Global capacity for solar thermal is over 200GW - around double global installed capacity of solar power. The technology is proven and well established across Europe and elsewhere, and back in the days of previous support systems when grants were offered for installation of many types of renewable energy technologies, solar thermal was by far the most popular technology of choice for householders.

Stuart Elmes, Chair of the Solar Thermal Working Group at the STA, welcomed the launch of the RHI, saying: “Solar heating is popular with householders and quick to install, integrating easily with existing heating systems. We calculate that the returns from solar water heating are similar to those from solar power when you take into account the high price inflation for gas and heating oil.”

Paul Barwell, Chief Executive of the STA said: “With the launch of the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive the final piece of support for household solar technologies slots into place. Together with the Green Deal for insulation improvements and the Feed-in Tariff for solar power, householders now have a great choice of Government-backed financial incentives to choose from to best suit their clean energy needs.”

Launching the scheme, the Government Minister for Energy Greg Barker (pictured right) said: "Not only will people have warmer homes and cheaper fuel bills, they will reduce their carbon emissions, and get cash payments for installing these new technologies. It opens up a market for the supply chain, engineers and installers – generating growth and supporting jobs as part of our long-term economic plan."

Technologies and payments

The technologies currently covered by the scheme are:

• Biomass heating systems, which burn fuel such as wood pellets, chips or logs to provide central heating and hot water in a home. Biomass-only boilers are designed to provide heating using a ‘wet system’ (eg through radiators) and provide hot water. Pellet stoves with integrated boilers are designed to burn only wood pellets and can heat the room they are in directly, as well as provide heat to the rest of the home using a ‘wet system’ (eg through radiators) and provide hot water.
• Ground or water source heat pumps, which extract heat from the ground or water. This heat can then be used to provide heating and/or hot water in a home.
• Air to water heat pumps, which absorb heat from the outside air. This heat can then be used to provide heating and/or hot water in a home.
• Solar thermal panels, which collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water which is stored in a hot water cylinder. The two types of panels that are eligible are evacuated tube panels and liquid-filled flat plate panels.

Technology	Tariff
Air-source heat pumps	7.3p/kWh
Ground and water-source heat pumps	18.8p/kWh
Biomass-only boilers and biomass pellet stoves with integrated boilers	12.2p/kWh
Solar thermal panels (flat plate and evacuated tube for hot water only)	19.2 p/kWh

Only one space heating system is allowed per property but homeowners can apply for solar thermal for hot water and a space heating system.

The guaranteed payments are made quarterly over seven years for households in England, Wales and Scotland. (Northern Ireland has its own RHI scheme). The scheme is designed to bridge the gap between the cost of fossil fuel heat sources and renewable heat alternatives.
According to renewable energy expert Richard Hiblen, who has more than 14 years’ experience in this field, the RHI tariffs are ‘good for some and better for others’, but even the worst figures make the technologies more attractive than installing oil or LPG heating.

Phil Hurley, managing director, NIBE Energy Systems Ltd., a renewable heating manufacturer, called the RHI "a game changer for the renewable heating industry". He continued: “The introduction of the domestic RHI gives the industry the security and confidence it needs to realise its growth potential".

But Neil Schofield, Head of External and Governmental Affairs at boiler (furnace) manufacturer Worcester, Bosch Group, cautioned that: “the funding is weighted heavily in favour of biomass, which is one of the most expensive systems to install and one requiring the largest amount of user intervention. Questions have already been raised over whether DECC has backed the right horse in this respect."

UK Solar Strategy

Earlier this week, the UK Government also launched its Solar Strategy, which contains plans to turn the Government estate as well as factories, supermarkets and car parks in cities around the UK into “solar hubs”.

Energy Minister Greg Barker  said he believes that “there is massive potential to turn our large buildings into power stations and we must seize the opportunity this offers to boost our economy as part of our long term economic plan. Solar not only benefits the environment, it will see British job creation and deliver the clean and reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”

The UK has an estimated 250,000 hectares of south-facing commercial rooftops, and the government believes that solar increasingly offers efficient and cost effective onsite generation opportunities to both businesses and domestic consumers.

In a further initiative, the Department for Education is working on ways to improve energy efficiency across the 22,000 schools in England, to reduce their annual energy spend of £500 million, and to encourage the deployment of PV on schools alongside promoting energy efficiency. The British Education Secretary Michael Gove said: “Solar panels are a sensible choice for schools, particularly in terms of the financial benefits they can bring. It is also a great way for pupils to engage with environmental issues and think about where energy comes from.”

No more PV subsidy for energy inefficient buildings - Barker

Greg Barker has told the domestic solar industry that all new domestic PV sites from April 2012 must meet minimum energy efficiency standards.

Speaking at the Solar Power UK conference yesterday in Birmingham to an audience of PV installers angry at the cut in Feed-in-Tariffs for PV that has thrown their business models onto the rubbish heap, he defended the cuts but then said that there will be "no more PV subsidy for energy inefficient buildings".

Barker admitted in his speech: "It cannot be right to encourage consumers to rush to install what are still expensive electricity generating systems in their homes before they have thoroughly explored all of the sensible options for reducing their energy consumption first".

This is an official acknowledgement that the Government's three key domestic energy policies have been implemented in the wrong order.
Since it is more economical to improve the energy efficiency of a property than to install generation capacity, the first policy should have been the Green Deal, followed by the Renewable Heat Incentive, then by the Feed-in-Tariffs for renewable electricity, a reversal of the actual order.
This is because renewable heat is more efficient and practical on the domestic scale in this country than renewable electricity.
Mr Barker drew back from announcing the widely expected cuts to the subsidies for PV electricity from 43p per kWh to around 20p per kWh, and refused to take questions from delegates, who fear that the cuts will kill their industry.

Instead, he told them that he expects the successful renewable energy companies of the future will be more like Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) in the sense that they will "diversify into new sectors and join the transformation of the energy efficiency market" with the same "gusto" as they have microgeneration.

ESCOs sell the service of energy supply, and so it is inherently in their interest to do so in the most efficient way in order to maximise profit and competitiveness.

Barker said that the forthcoming Comprehensive Review of the tariffs which DECC will soon hold, will seek ways to put FITs in the context of a "whole-house approach which prioritises energy efficiency and supports the right low-carbon heat and electricity technologies".

The consultation will also ask how business premises and non-domestic sites should be treated in the future.

Barker promised that the scheme will also be streamlined to make sure it works with the minimum of bureaucracy.

In an attempt at contrition, he did confess the need for "much greater coherence right across the green agenda" to synergise the Green Deal and energy efficiency measures, Feed in Tariffs for Microgeneration and the RHI.

He said he hopes to put an end to "stop start reviews". "We owe you that much," he told the sceptical PV industry representatives listening and thinking about their job security.

He said that the lower tariffs would mean "uptake" of the FITs "could continue to grow in a sustainable way" - sustainable to the Treasury budget, that is.

"The future of solar PV in the UK needs to be one based not on subsidy but on sound underlying economics," he explained.

Solar thermal

He therefore emphasised that he wants solar thermal water heating to have an important role.

In most parts of the country this can cut gas or electric water heating requirements by around 40% over the year, and so have a much bigger impact than solar electricity on bills and carbon reduction.

Barker said he is "keen to see a much greater integration of solar thermal and PV offerings in the marketplace – providing consumers with the best advice and the right technologies for their situation".

He also said that he will shortly be announcing support for 34 renewable heat projects from social housing providers, valued at over £4m, which represents "an increase of 33% on the original budget set aside for this competition".

Reclaiming the green agenda

Both Barker and Chris Huhne have been keen this week to try and undo the perception of damage to the Government's green image caused by George Osborne's recent pronouncements.

This subject was debated in the House of Commons yesterday, where MPs discussed a composite motion suggesting that most of the Government's avowedly green policies were failing.

These include the attempts to attract global investment in environmental technologies; the Waste Review, the planning regime changes, and the 27% cut in flood defence investment. It also called on the Government to "ensure mandatory carbon emissions reporting for all large UK companies to kick-start green jobs and growth".

Defra minister Richard Benyon hotly defended the Government's record against Labour and Green Party criticism.

Voting was split exactly on party lines with the 302 Tories and LibDems voting against and the remaining 222 voting for the motion.

New source of company advice

Outside of all this political jockeying, the Carbon Trust continues its steadfast work to make it as easy as possible for companies to save energy and money.

It latest wheeze, launched yesterday, is a new limited company, Carbon Trust Implementation, which will help UK companies reduce their energy costs and install greener, more efficient technology.

It is to provide independent, objective evaluation of the most effective energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies for a company; and help them choose "trusted, accredited suppliers" to carry out the work, as well as helping customers to run competitive tenders for their projects.

In order to make up for the cuts in public funding to the Trust, the service is funded by a flat rate commission from suppliers. This also means there is no cost to the company itself in obtaining this support.

Tom Delay, chief executive at the Carbon Trust said the new business "will help unlock £9 billion of investment into energy efficient equipment".

"We are confident that our new business will catalyse organisations to take action and in turn benefit from implementing cost effective energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and help the UK capitalise on green growth,” he said.

This is because it dovetails with the flexible Energy Efficiency Financing scheme that the Carbon Trust and Siemens Financial Services Ltd (SFS) launched in April 2011.

It is political will that prevents the dawning of the long-predicted solar age

Here is an intriguing question for anyone interested in tackling climate change: who said this, and when?

"Eventually industry will no longer find in Europe the resources to satisfy its prodigious expansion... Coal will undoubtedly be used up. What will industry do then?"

Well, it was a man named Augustin Bernard Mouchot, speaking in Paris after he had successfully demonstrated an early industrial application of solar thermal energy - as long ago as 1880.

Two years earlier, this pioneer of solar energy had demonstrated the use of solar power for cooling, by making a block of ice. He employed a parabolic dish that focussed the sun's rays onto an 80-litre boiler and made the ice by use of what is now a standard compressor-evaporator process.

His audience at the Paris Exhibition of 1878 must have been astounded. But so are people today when I tell them that it is perfectly possible to cool homes using solar energy; it just seems counter-intuitive.

This month, the American southern state of Texas has been sweltering under record-breaking high temperatures and its electricity supply system has almost collapsed due to the demands of the state's air conditioners working overtime.

Yet of course, because it is so hot it has abundant solar power. If only the state were using this to keep cool they would not need to burn so much oil and close schools!

It's almost as if the potential of solar cooling is being deliberately kept secret. And this is despite the efforts of the International Energy Agency to propagate the information with best practice case studies and R&D.

The solar age is undoubtedly coming – it's just having a very slow dawn. The fact that after 130 years we're still amazed by Mouchot's demonstration is testimony to the fact that solar power's cause has been continually frustrated by the aggressive marketing of cheap fossil energy.

I cover all of this topic and much more in my latest book, which is published this week, The Earthscan Expert Guide to Solar Technology for Power, Heating, and Cooling.

In writing it, I have discovered many more astonishing facts about just how long some solar technologies have been around... and how different the twentieth century would have been if we had been forced to rely on solar and other renewable sources of power instead of fossil fuels; if we hadn't been cursed - as well as blessed - with nature's bequest of such huge quantities of oil, gas and coal.

If, in fact, peak oil had been reached in 1890.

Because from the time of the First World War - which was partly fought over access by European nations to the newly discovered oilfields of Iraq, a country that was itself created as a result of that war - through Israel's Six Day War and the recent Iraq wars, not to mention hundreds of other conflicts, access to fossil fuels has been the cause of millions of casualties.

Yet fossil fuels' apparent relative cheapness and high energy density have made them seem more favourable and convenient than solar and other renewable sources of energy, and held back their development.

This topic is documented, at least from an American perspective, in Alexis Madrigal's excellent book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology.

But with growing awareness of the impact of climate change, the negative impacts of fossil fuels on a global scale have become increasingly apparent.

Frank Schuman, who designed the world's first solar power station - used in Egypt in 1913 - dreamt of a completely solar powered world. It was theoretically possible then, as indeed it is today.

Nowadays, the phrase “energy security" is being used by those who want to see sustainable sources of clean energy replace dirty fossil fuels.

This is because the sun, wind, tidal and other renewable sources of energy are available abundantly, everywhere on the planet, with no need for conflict over their use.

Humanity - or its leaders - are now faced with a clear choice: whether to stick with the status quo and vested interests; or whether to accelerate the deployment, research and development into solar and other renewable, sustainable technologies and practices.

My new book makes the case for the latter, looking at all the available solar technologies in a way that is hopefully easy to understand and inspiring to read.

Many people think only of solar electric modules when considering solar energy. But the sun's heat and light can be deployed to generate power in many more ways, such as passive solar architecture, water heating and solar thermal electricity generation for a great many applications.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the technologies included among 'solar power' from the point of view of their end use:

• Heating and cooling space: passive solar design, urban planning, passive stack ventilation, phase change materials, unglazed transpired collectors, solar-powered chillers and coolers
  Lighting: glazing, special glass coatings; sun pipes


• Heating water: solar water heating systems; evacuated tubes; swimming pool heating; active solar cooling; applications for large buildings and districts
  Cooking, food drying, desalination and water treatment


• Electricity: thermoelectric devices, photovoltaic modules, system design, process heat, concentrating solar power


• Transport: solar vehicles, hydrogen production.

The potential of these technologies is completely clear and proven, and many more exciting ones are in development. The scientific case for the likelihood with business-as-usual of a runaway greenhouse effect has been conclusively established.

What is still lacking is the political will to implement solar technologies on a wide scale, in the face of continuing lobbying by fossil fuel companies to determine energy policy in many places - like Texas - to the detriment of its wider economy and the comfort of its inhabitants, and against simple common sense.

The Earthscan Expert Guide to Solar Technology for Power, Heating, and Cooling is aimed at a professional audience, and can be bought here.

£15m renewable heat trial scheme gives grants to off-gas-grid householders

A ‘Renewable Heat Premium Payment’ scheme has been announced by DECC that makes available £15m of support for up to 25,000 renewable heat installations in homes, with a review to take place as the £10m limit is approached.

It will target the 4 million or so households in Great Britain not heated by mains gas, who have to rely on heating such as coal, oil and electric fires, which tend to be more expensive and emit more carbon emissions.

It is open to householders in England, Scotland and Wales, who will be able to apply for grants of up to £1,250 to install systems such as biomass boilers, air and ground source heat pumps and solar thermal panels from 1st August 2011. It will operate on a first-come-first-served basis, and will close on 31st March 2012.

Part of the purpose of the scheme is to obtain further information on the behaviour of the technologies prior to the full commencement of the Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI). Therefore installations will be monitored and any metering equipment will be provided free of charge.

Participants will be required to complete surveys and provide feedback on their experiences.

“Today starts a new era in home heating," announced Climate Change Minister Greg Barker, “because we’re making it more economical for people to go green by providing discounts off the cost of eco heaters. This should be great news for people who are reliant on expensive oil or electric heating as the Premium Payment scheme is really aimed at them.

“Getting money off an eco heater will not just cut carbon emissions, it will also help create a market in developing, selling and installing kit like solar thermal panels or heat pumps.”

The Premium Payment scheme is to be administered by the Energy Saving Trust, which has set up an information line, 0800 512 012 and a website.

Dwellings will have to have in place basic energy efficiency measures before householders can apply. The following technologies are eligible:

• Ground Source Heat Pumps - £1250 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
• Biomass boilers - £950 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
• Air source heat pumps - £850 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
• Solar thermal hot water panels - £300 grant (available to all households regardless of the type of heating system used).

£3m of the £15m will be set aside for registered social landlords to improve their housing stock.

DECC will announce details of how to apply for these funds at a later date.

The Renewable Heat Incentive

The Renewable Heat Incentive is split into two tranches. The first, for industry, business and communities will be open for applications on 30th September, subject to State Aids Approval. The tariffs will be paid for 20 years to eligible technologies that have been installed since 15th July 2009 with payments made for each kWh of renewable heat produced.

Households will be able to apply a year later. The Government has confirmed that renewable heat installations installed in homes since 15th July 2009 could receive the Renewable Heat Incentive once it comes in, provided they meet the eligibility criteria.

They have also confirmed that this could include those who receive support under the RHPP scheme. The Government has not yet published its proposals for how the RHI will work in the domestic sector, including eligibility criteria.

How we can do without the nuclear renaissance

Japan, the only country to have experienced not one but two atomic weapon blasts which devastated two major cities, has now suffered what is probably going to become the third worst civil nuclear disaster in the world.

Many voices are lining up to say that this is the nail in the coffin for nuclear power. There have been anti-nuclear demonstrations in Germany and Greenpeace is calling for the phasing out of all existing power stations. They say nuclear power is simply too dangerous.

Those on the pro-nuclear side have in the last few days been consistently underestimating the way that events have actually unfolded. My inbox has been filled with nuclear pundits offering their prognoses which have been proved invariably wrong.

Nevertheless even some environmentalists such as Mark Lynas are arguing that we still need nuclear power and that it's worth the risk because the alternative - runaway climate change - is unavoidable without it.

Nuclear or renewable future?

Japan imports 90% of its oil and has used nuclear power to help fuel its economic success with a measure of energy independence. Up to now, the Japanese public have largely trusted the authorities.

The terrible consequences of the tsunami, the attendant economic collapse, the lack of services, electricity and food, and the terrifying prospect of an invisible enemy in the air or in the food around them has shattered this trust.

Hideki Ban, a Japanese antinuclear movement activist and leader of the Citizen's Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), commenting on the disaster, said at the weekend in an interview with an Italian newspaper "By an accident of this magnitude it is very likely (and is also our hope) that the close dependence of Japan on atomic energy will come to an end."

Yet would Japan be able to power all of its needs with renewable energy? And if it can, how long will it take to build the generation capacity? It would not do so with solar photovoltaic and wind power alone. However, it is an island and there is no shortage of marine energy or geothermal energy, whose effect could be magnified by the use of combined heat and power and heat pumps, or of food and crop waste for anaerobic digestion.

All new buildings to replace those lost could be constructed to become zero energy using the Passivhaus standard. If Japan can achieve energy security using renewables, then certainly so can the rest of the world.

And if it can't, then presumably the rest of the world cannot successfully tackle climate change either.

Mark Lynas argues that if we abandon nuclear power then in the immediate term coal will take up the slack. Without any proven (at scale) carbon capture and storage, this could well accelerate global warming.

The renewable vision

But it doesn't have to be like this. Large-scale deployment of anaerobic digestion, solar thermal power plants, marine energy and wind power linked by high-voltage supergrids can power economic revival.

The map right shows where it has been calculated that six large solar thermal plants situated in the hottest spots on the planet could power the whole world with such supergrids.


The European Desertec project is one such example of a project that could revolutionise North Africa and Europe and the Middle East.

The far east could have just such a super grid.

Is it feasible? Is it affordable?

What really brought nuclear power to a halt after the Three Mile Island disaster in America was the refusal of insurance companies to foot the bill for new construction given the potential damage to them were there to be another accident.

The same reaction is extremely likely again, in many countries of the world.


All renewable energy technologies carry far less inherent risk but more up front costs. If they are more expensive in capital terms, they are less expensive in terms of their running costs, security requirements and insurance requirements.

What the fulfillment of this dream requires is the political will and about the same amount of capital as it will take to build nuclear power stations and maintain their security and insure them against disaster in the future.

The health risk

Nuclear power is inherently dangerous. The whole supply chain including mining in countries like Niger promotes environmental desolation and conflict.

Mark Lynas argues that there have only been 50 deaths as a result of the Chernobyl disaster and this is an acceptable price.

But that is not the whole picture. There has been a great increase in thyroid cancers as a result of the ingestion of caesium-137, which can remain in the environment and food chain for 30 years.

Several of my friends around where I live have for many years received visitors from the Chernobyl area - children badly affected by radiation with terrible deformities. They come for holidays. It is awful to see them.

According to the World Health Organisation, an expert group from the US National Academy of Sciences has concluded that "there may be up to 4,000 additional cancer deaths among the three highest exposed groups over their lifetime". These groups contain 630,000 people.

Those who argue that all of this is an acceptable price to pay to tackle climate change have not seen the suffering themselves close to hand. If it was happening to them or their family, friends and neighbours they would not be so gung ho about it.

It's time to say no to the nuclear lobby. We don't trust you any more.