£6 million helping hand to turn homes ‘green’

£6 million more funding will become available under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) for people who want to install micro-wind turbines, solar panels and other microgeneration technologies on their homes, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks announced this week.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) there has been a fantastic response to the programme since its launch in April and to help meet the demand the DTI is transferring £6 million of the total £28.5 million phase 1 funding into the householder stream.

Chief Executive of Home Inspectors .co.uk, Stephen Callaghan said:

‘We already know that with the introduction of mandatory Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) that the energy Efficiency of homes is on top of the government's agenda. The introduction of grants and other incentives of this sort will bring a significant improvement to the SAP ratings of lot more homes up and down the country. Through the huge response to the Low Carbon Buildings Programme the Government have already allocated over £3m of grants to households installing microgeneration - the demand has been so great that this represents half the total household budget in only the first year of the programme.'

Welcoming the announcement, Philip Wolfe Renewable Energy Association Chief Executive said:

‘Interest in domestic scale renewables has been growing very rapidly. This is one of the cornerstones of the Government's microgeneration strategy, so it is vital that there is adequate funding to sustain the public's enthusiasm.'