For mass take-up of energy saving measures we need effective financing schemes, so we welcome the glimpses of detail on the Green Deal that Greg Barker gave us at the end of June. However, it’s not enough to get a clear view of how the scheme will work.

How will it be delivered?

Barker [...]

Which would you trust most to advise on and install energy efficiency or renewable measure in your house?

National retailers such as M&S, Tesco or B&Q OR locally-based specialist companies?

Vote now in the online poll on the YouGen home page http://www.yougen.co.uk/

Scottish householders are being urged to snap up grants for home renewables before the cash runs out. Grants are still available for 30% of the cost, up to a maximum of £4,000 for heating technologies like wood pellet boilers, heat pumps or solar water heating. (The LCBP grants in England is already closed.)

Scottish energy minister [...]

We’ve had one of the wettest winters in history, and it would be easy to think that we have no issues with the level of potable water in this country.
Recent coverage in the news about water shortages in the North of England suggest otherwise. There further useful information on the www.YouGen.co.uk website together with details [...]

Six tips to save you from solar panel cowboys

About the author: Paul Hutchens is founder and director of Eco2Solar, which installs solar systems around the UK. First published on YouGen.

Solar hot water is intrinsically an ethical industry. We all want to save the planet don’t we? So we need to ensure that [...]

Choosing an installer is always a tricky business, so YouGen asked Stuart Houghton, of Abacus Renewable Energy, who installed our photovoltaic solar panels, what his top tips are. Watch the video, or read on, to find out:

1. Find out how long they’ve been in the business.

2. Ask if they will [...]

If you are thinking of installing solar to generate your electricty you might want to check out a http://www.yougen.co.uk/blog-entry/1482/10+tips+for+choosing+a+good+solar+PV+installer/.

The video provides a short guide to selecting solar PV installer.

Finding an installer for a renewable energy technology should be a straight forward exercise. With all the certification an installer has to meet, such as the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), to enable a client to access grants, the installer has to know what they are talking about and be competent. Don’t they?

Unfortunately, [...]

Heat pumps are one of the most talked about renewable technologies – on television, in newspapers and magazines. The way they are portrayed they seem to be the answer to all our problems and will suit all properties. But is this true?

Heat pumps (ground, air or water) suit only certain applications and it is important [...]

Only one of 14 solar thermal salespeople proved worthy of recommendation in Which?’s recent investigation into solar panel companies. This is devastating news both for the industry and, more importantly, for people wanting to switch to solar hot water systems.

Ten of the companies misled researchers and some also used what can only [...]

The new FIT scheme does allow you to sell electricty back to the grid. The returns depend on the type of renewable technology you have installed.

As too what the best form of generating electricity, well that depends on a lot of factors such as location, type or size of property.

“I’m just popping down to Tesco for a solar panel” doesn’t sound right somehow. Maybe it’s just me, but I not sure that the entry of the supermarkets into the renewable energy market is a good thing.

Sainsbury is first out of the starting gates. It [...]

YouGen has been voted winner of the green living advice category of the Green Web Awards. The website, which aims to make it easy for people to work out whether or not renewable energy is a appropriate for their house, had been up for less than a year when it was shortlisted.

“To [...]

The introduction of the feed-in tariff (known as Clean Energy Cashback scheme) opens a new and exciting era for microgeneration. Here we answer some of the most common questions on the new scheme. If you’ve got any more, please add a comment below and we’ll do our best to answer. The information below refers [...]

At last the uncertainty is over – we now know what the rates are for the Clean Energy Cashback (feed-in tariff) which starts on 1 April 2010. Its purpose is to encourage installations of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels, micro hydro and microCHP schemes of up to 5MW capacity to produce low carbon electricity.

The feed-in [...]