March 27th, 2013
I finally returned after a nearly month-long expedition across Europe to find the tastiest foods, most delicious beers, and of course, see how solar and other renewable energies have developed in other countries It's been an amazing trip and although I miss it a ton, I'm glad to be back and happy to share my adventures with you all. I will start by saying not only was everyone I spoke with very nice and helpful with me, the desire to bring more renewable energy to their homes and use more green technology is just as strong as ours. Perhaps knowing that even globally when we all have similar goals we can work together to achieve great things.
Fish and Chips....and a Pint, please :)
I was very surprised to see so many homes in England were outfitted with solar arrays. It is much more common there, even on the older homes, to have some solar panels set up, either solar thermal or photovoltaics. Even in Scotland, where the Sun shines less during the day than what we see in North Carolina, there was still a surprisingly large abundance of solar electricity supplying residential areas. It was a great example showing the world that you don't necessarily need to live in Arizona or Florida to take advantage of the Sun.
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| A rooftop solar array on a residential home in Anstruther, Fife, Scotland |
One major reason why I did see so many solar homes was favorable government policy. They offered rebates, credits, and feed-in tariffs that would allow homeowners to collect income from their rooftops. A feed-in tariff is a guaranteed payment made to the customer per kilowatt of electricity generated. In the United Kingdom, this payment is nearly 20 cents per kWh produced! Because of these generation incentives and utility production payments, the payback period is quite short, and in some cases only 4-5 years to see a positive return on investment on your solar purchase. That allows British solar energy companies like Big Green Company (www.biggreencompany.co.uk) to work with homeowners on developing and managing residential solar arrays. Big Green has been in business since 2007 and has expanded to be one of Britain's largest residential solar developers, thanks to the government incentives that can guarantee payments of up to 1200GBP (~$1700) per year for 20 years. I can only imagine the number of residential solar systems in use if the US offered similar rates.
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| Visit www.biggreencompany.co.uk to see more on solar incentives offered in the United Kingdom |
After seeing all the rooftop solar arrays and hearing about the great government incentives, I was completely overwhelmed and had to stop and have a nice cool refreshment. Nothing better than a Pint in Scotland!
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| Enjoying the day in Kilconquahar, Fife, Scotland |
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| Anstruther, along the eastern coast of Scotland near St. Andrews Golf Course |
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| The Scottish Highlands, quite breathtaking views |
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| Searching for 'Nessie :) |
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| A hidden treasure! Solar Thermal panels in far north Loch Ness, Scotland! |
Thanks for reading everyone, I'm glad I could share a bit of my adventures with you. My next article will be on my trips in Austria and Germany!
Have a Sunny Day!
