Here we go again
British Gas announced this week a massive 35% hike in their gas prices to the ordinary bloke on the street (that's you and I).
When will the energy companies put an end to raising their prices (whilst announcing record profits - British Gas are set to make £8billion this year)? The answer is..... who knows? As oil and gas become more scarce, the cost of supply is only going to increase.
The good news to all of this, however, is that there are an increasing number of alternative energy technologies coming onto the market that offer sensible, cost-effective solutions to the ever-increasing cost of heating the home. These range from solar thermal systems, heat pumps (with very high efficiencies), biomass boilers and micro-wind turbines. And the cost of installation isn't out of this world, especially when viewed over the lifetime of the product.
Let's take the following example:
A typical UK home requires 20000 kWh of energy each year to provide it with heat and hot water. If we compare the cost of heating this home with mains gas versus heat pump versus biomass boiler, the costs will look something like this:
Mains gas boiler - £890/annum
Air source heat pump - £420/annum (saving £470/year)
Wood pellet biomass boiler - £325/annum (saving £565/year)
With the capital cost of either a heat pump or biomass boiler being in the region of £6000 fully installed, the payback on a heat pump would be just over 12 years and on a biomass boiler just over 10. This may sound significant, but when you factor in a value uplift of around 1-2% to your property on a property value of £180,000 that equates to £1800-£3200. Take this away from the £6000 and your payback becomes more like 5-7 years. And finally, life expectancies of heat pumps and biomass boilers are around 20 years against that of a gas boiler of around 7-10 years.
And the larger the home, the greater the savings will be as economies of scale kick in.
Given all of this, alternative/renewable energy technologies for your home begin to make alot more sense. And, in the case of biomass, the fuel source is truly renewable.
When will the energy companies put an end to raising their prices (whilst announcing record profits - British Gas are set to make £8billion this year)? The answer is..... who knows? As oil and gas become more scarce, the cost of supply is only going to increase.
The good news to all of this, however, is that there are an increasing number of alternative energy technologies coming onto the market that offer sensible, cost-effective solutions to the ever-increasing cost of heating the home. These range from solar thermal systems, heat pumps (with very high efficiencies), biomass boilers and micro-wind turbines. And the cost of installation isn't out of this world, especially when viewed over the lifetime of the product.
Let's take the following example:
A typical UK home requires 20000 kWh of energy each year to provide it with heat and hot water. If we compare the cost of heating this home with mains gas versus heat pump versus biomass boiler, the costs will look something like this:
Mains gas boiler - £890/annum
Air source heat pump - £420/annum (saving £470/year)
Wood pellet biomass boiler - £325/annum (saving £565/year)
With the capital cost of either a heat pump or biomass boiler being in the region of £6000 fully installed, the payback on a heat pump would be just over 12 years and on a biomass boiler just over 10. This may sound significant, but when you factor in a value uplift of around 1-2% to your property on a property value of £180,000 that equates to £1800-£3200. Take this away from the £6000 and your payback becomes more like 5-7 years. And finally, life expectancies of heat pumps and biomass boilers are around 20 years against that of a gas boiler of around 7-10 years.
And the larger the home, the greater the savings will be as economies of scale kick in.
Given all of this, alternative/renewable energy technologies for your home begin to make alot more sense. And, in the case of biomass, the fuel source is truly renewable.
posted by Chris Whitelock at
14:45
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