Northern Ireland: Renewable Energy for All New Buildings in 2008?
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08. 8.06
The government of Northern Ireland has proposed to change building regulations to make it mandatory for all new buildings built from 2008 onward to use renewable energy. "[It will] apply to all new homes, company and public buildings [and] make micro-generation, such as solar panels to heat hot water, solar photo voltaic panels on roofs to generate electricity or small wind turbines for houses mandatory". Secretary of State Peter Hain seems a fan of green energy. He said: "I am fully committed to the use of renewable energy and I know how effective it can be. In my home in Wales, I have installed PV panels on my roof and this has resulted in my energy bill being halved." If solar can work in Ireland, it can work anywhere! The programme will offer grants to up to 50% to 4000 households of the cost of installing systems such as solar heating schemes and photovoltaic panels, small scale wind turbines, biomass boilers and geothermal heat pumps. It will be handled by a partnership led by Action Renewables, along with the Energy Saving Trust and the Northern Ireland Energy Action. Irish readers who want more information about grants can call 0800 023 4077. ::Northern Ireland leading the way on green energy, via ::Northern Ireland Proposes Mandatory Solar or Wind on All New Buildings
I don't like this kind of measures:
1) they make renewables unpopular, because people do not like to have to do something.
2) they will result in low quality products. People will slap the cheapest they can find on the roof so that they have fulfilled their obligation. The bad quality will harm the reputation of renewables.
There are two better alternatives:
a) General standards for the energy use of buildings. People are free to choose the technology best fit for their situation e.g. better insulation, solar thermal, photovoltaics, microwind etc.
The technology needs to be good, otherwise the standards are not met.
b) Feed in tarriffs. In Germany there is a big market for PV because owners are garanteed a high price for their clean electricty. Good technology will bring in extra money.
You do know that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, right? Ireland (except in a geographic sense of the whole physical island) generally refers to the Republic of Ireland, the independent bit.
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editor note: Right, good point. I'll change the title so it's clear this is about Northern Ireland.