Figures from the CLA’s most recent Rural Business Report suggest 46% of members have invested in renewable energy and, across Britain, a million homeowners now have solar panels in what the Government has called ‘a small-scale electricity revolution’.
For those living in old, draughty houses, however, the cost and upheaval of installing a green heating system can be off-putting —there seems little point in installing a biomass boiler or photovoltaic (PV) panels without upgrading insulation and glazing. In a listed property, the disruption required is even more daunting.
The newest systems, however, are discreet, clean and highly efficient. The output heat energy of an air-source heat pump, for example, is up to six times the electrical input power and solar panels will still generate substantial amounts of electricity on a cloudy day in the depths of winter.
Over the past decade, Government incentives for selling power back to the grid and installing renewable-heating systems have ensured the upheaval was worth it financially. Alas, the motivation to switch to renewable energy has been eroded over the past few years, with the Government’s solar energy Feed-in Tariff scheme closing to new applicants last March. However, through the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, those switching to renewable heating can still receive quarterly payments for seven years for the renewable heat their system produces.
Denne historien er fra October 30, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra October 30, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds