When the electricity bill lands at the home of the future, the envelope may contain a nice surprise. Rather than showing how much the family owes, it may well contain a cheque to pay for the energy it has generated for the national grid!

The government’s recently published energy and planning white papers combine to sketch a rosy future for householders generating smaller amounts of electricity on-site, which is then used to power a home’s Lighting, Heating and electrical appliances. Any excess power generated could be exported back again to the grid.

The energy white paper ‘Meeting the power Challenge’ ushers in a potentially bright future for electricity with detailed proposals pointing to how electric heating and hot water will be integral to reducing carbon emissions and improving energy security.

To meet up the government’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 (based on 1990 levels) takes a radical shift in energy policy, especially as power stations in the united kingdom are responsible for generating over half of them.

This is given even greater emphasis by the truth that by 2020, 80% of the UK’s gas requirements will need to be imported and over half the world’s gas reserves are concentrated in just three countries, Russia, Iran and Qatar.

The white paper pushes for investment in increasingly low carbon electricity, principally large-scale renewables, clean coal and nuclear power.

Illustration of a ‘greener’ home

Microgeneration

…by 2016 new build will be zero carbon – attained by a combination of improved air-tightness and thermal efficiency together with the use of microgeneration technologies…

This will be utilised by low carbon homes – by 2016 all new build will undoubtedly be zero carbon – attained by a variety of improved air-tightness and thermal efficiency together with the use of microgeneration technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, biomass boilers and heat pumps as well as heat recovery ventilation systems.

Solar power panels or photovoltaic cells are accustomed to generate power from the sun and changes to the look rules, due autumn 2007, mean that these should be easier to install. In line with the white paper, only 1 1,300 eco-pioneers have installed panels on their homes while solar water heaters are a lot more widespread – the Department of Trade and Industry estimates you can find about 80,000 used – as they are much cheaper to set up.

技術士試験　試験に出る　カーボンニュートラル have taken off recently, with more than 20,000 used by householders or smaller businesses around the UK. They’re only viable in some areas where average wind speeds are high enough and there’s little wind turbulence from neighbouring buildings.

Ground and air source heat pumps are also set to see a massive growth popular as on average for each and every 1 kW of electricity they consume they produce around 2 to 3 3 kW of heat.

Generating electricity locally avoids transmission losses and enables waste heat to be exploited for both cooling and heating. This applies as equally to commercial developments around individual homes.

In 技術士試験　試験に出る　カーボンニュートラル , where 75% of the city’s carbon emissions come from buildings, the London Climate Change Agency, which is championed by the Lord Mayor’s office, is encouraging the growth of mixed-use developments which lend themselves to CHP (combined heat and power) systems, with residential and commercial property providing a balanced demand for energy around the clock.