Feed in Tariffs

Phew, a busy few weeks, but am glad to be back in blogland again.

Feed in Tariffs (or FITS) what are they and what have they to do with energy efficiency ?

In simple terms, they are incentive payments from the government for people who generate their own electricity, so if you have photovoltaics or solar panels installed you should be eligible for these payments. The change since April this year, is that you now get these payments even if you use the electiricity yourself.

So, you save money by not using power supplied by the National Grid, you can even make money if you have surplus power, by selling back to the National Grid. You make money because you receive the FITS payment for being a micro power generator, which is index linked for the next 20+ years.

What's the downside? The capital outlay for whatever form of micro generation you are installing, as well as the aesthetic impact on your property of these installations.

Want to find out more? I could say look at the national press for adverts from green energy providers, undoubtedly they will be delighted to give you lots of information, but ultimately they are trying to sell you their solution so may not be the best place to start. The Energy Saving trust website is usually packed with all sorts of information that will help your research - so why not start there.

If you get to the point where you are serious, don't forget your local planning office. Regulations are much more straightforward now, so they should be pleased to help.

So what's the final word? If you are interested in green energy, the incentives have never been better, but you still need to assess that it is an investment you want to make because the initial outlay can be expensive. even if you typically could save/earn £700+ per annum from your installation that is probably at least a 10 year payback on your investment.

Heat Rises

In one of my recent missives, I was talking about natural convection and heat rising through a house.

This prompted a question asking whether removing loft insulation in summer was a good idea?

I think this is probably very impractical for 99% of houses, but it did get me thinking. I was in fact up in the loft space the other day and even though(as you might expect) I have a well insulated loft ther heat in the roof space was still quite high. This can be caused by two things, the obvious one is that heat is being convected into the roof space by sunlight coming on to the roof, here the insulation in the floor of the loft will act as a barrier and stop this heat going down into the house. Otherwise natural convection in the house means that through the day, heat will still find a way to rise through gaps around loft hatches and the like.

If we believe that hot air will rise and you do want to do something about this, then perhaps another alternative is to install a couple of Velux style windows in your loft. Opening these during the day, particularly later in the day, when heat has built up, would allow the heat to dissipate.

In economic terms it is probably hard to justify this investment, unless you do want daylight in your loft space, but as a theoretical muse it is worth a thought.

As a practicing energy consultant, it behoves me to have these lateral thoughts from time to time - now, how can I find an energy efficient way of dispelling heat from my greenhouse?????

Low energy bulbs

Very interesting article in the national press today, saying that prices for low energy bulbs are going to jump at the end of the year. Why? because the subsidies that the big utility companies have been getting and passing on to the large retail outlets is going to stop.

The article went on to say that priority should / will be given to subsidising insulation solutions as this is seen as the most effective short term solution to reduce energy costs in running your home.

Based on my experience as a practicing Energy assessor, I would say that most people do think in terms of out of sight out of mind as far as loft space is concerned. A little extra lagging here can make a big difference, so the strategy is probably right. Low-E bulbs are now accepted as here to stay, so don't need the same 'push' to get them going and improving loft or wall insulation will produce better results than blanket use of low-e bulbs anyway.

However..... Forewarned is forearmed, buy a few low-e bulbs before Christmas, it gives you a couple of spares and you get them before the price hike.