Renewable Energy Grants – How to Apply For One Grant in the UK

Renewable energy grants are available across the UK by the DTI’s low carbon buildings programme. These grants are focused upon general householders or microgeneration technologies such as solar thermal hot water, solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, heat pumps, small scale hydro, bio energy etc. To obtain government provided renewable energy grants for installing any type of alternative energy plants, you need to establish your eligibility.

If you require renewable energy grants in the Scotland, you need to apply at the Scottosh Community Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI). The SCHRI devises grant scheme that is intended for common householders. These grants are sponsored by the Scottish Executive while the grants are handled by none other than the Energy Saving Trust. These grants are available for all types and scales of alternative energy sources such as solar systems, small scale wind turbines, hydro systems, water and space heating, biomass energy sources, ground source heat pumps etc.

These renewable energy grants are set to cover 30% of the cost of installing any type of alternative energy plants and the grants may rise up to 4,000 pounds. Before fitting any renewable energy plant, every householder must check their property to consider the right energy efficiency measures for the property. Householders must perform a home energy check as the first step of grant application to evaluate which energy efficiency measures suit the best for the property.

Applications for renewable energy grants are made quarterly. Thereafter, the applications are screened and evaluated by an independent panel. On approval, applicants are required to wind up the entire installation process within a period of 12 months. The grant amount is paid in two parts: the first part covers 70% after approval and then the rest 30% is given on completion of the installation project.

Ignoring Energy Performance Certificate May Tick an alarm of RAID!

Since April 2008, all households of the UK are regulated to certify their home can contribute to a reliable energy future by means of obtaining an Energy Performance Certificate. Before going to the property market for a sale or rent, every landlord must tag this certification to their building to prove its performance for saving energy wastage and saving money to be blown up through heating bills. Now, landlords are warned not to ignore importance of Energy Performance Certificate otherwise they raise an alarm of raid anytime, as per the recent changes introduced by the Cornwall Trading Standards.

The Energy Performance Certificate or EPC documents state that the building is energy efficient and emphasises upon the amount of carbon dioxide gas emission from the building through normal use of heating system. The EPC rates CO2 emission of a building on the scale of A to G. The A graded building indicates the house scores the highest from the point of spreading polluting greenhouse gases. That’s how the property’s performance is benchmarked against present building standards and also essential and cost effective home improvements are recommended.

With the help of this Energy Performance Certificates document, new buyers or tenants get the opportunity to estimate their energy consumption, environmental costs before they decide to buy or sign up a contract. So that they can consider the energy dependability of the house before arriving to purchase decision or occupy the property for renting.