Taking Advantage of the Renewable Heat Incentive

Since April of 2011, government has been providing incentives to those households and commercial enterprises that install eligible renewable heat sources such as ground heat pumps and Biomass Boilers. This programme is scheduled to remain in effect until at least 2020 according to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and will provide benefits for any installation after 15 July of 2009. The purpose is to focus more on renewable sources of energy whilst becoming less dependent on fossil fuels for several reasons.

Initially, it is felt that alternative heat and energy sources will make the UK less dependent on fossil fuels from countries known to be the centres of geopolitical unrest. As well, using renewable heat sources lowers the UK’s overall carbon footprint which works towards a greener earth. Many families and businesses have therefore become interested in the benefits of installing renewable heat systems such as a Wood Pellet and Log Boiler.

Of course it is apparent that the UK is working towards finding viable solutions to the growing concerns of an economy that is floundering. Not only are many people being made redundant but wages are not in keeping with the rise in the cost of living which makes it even more important to save money on the cost of heating one’s home or business. Even so, the RHI can provide tariffs that will help renewable heat sources to literally pay for themselves over time whilst reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere.

One of the most efficient systems to be marketed in recent years is a Borehole ground source heat pump but the benefits of this particular pump go beyond the typical Horizontal Array Heat Pumps that have been commonly employed. A Borehole is vertically placed in the ground and takes up so much less space as a result. If there is room to get drilling equipment to the area where the pump is to be located, whether in a new build or retrofit, a Borehole can produce 4kW of heat for every 1 kW of electricity. What this means is that ground source heat provides cost effective green energy that the government is willing to provide incentives for and that is reason enough to investigate the potential in renewable heat sources.