UK homes ''ready for renewable energy''

27/06/2008

Many UK households would like the chance generate their own power, a renewable energy expert has claimed.

Dr Virginia Graham was speaking on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme after the government unveiled a major strategy to increase the use of renewable energy technology in the UK.

She said research suggests "ordinary households" are interested in generating their own electricity and heat, and called on the government to remove barriers to doing this.

Dr Graham told the programme: "We have got to look at what it costs consumers up front, we have got to look at how easy it is for them to install renewable energy and we have got to look to paying them for the heat and the electricity they generate."

If the correct incentives were in place, the expert said there would be an increase in numbers of the homes using renewable energy microgeneration.

Under proposals suggested by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the UK would aim to generate one-third of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2020.