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Gloucestershire Grants: Giving a Green Alternative to Expensive Oil Heating

20th October 2008

With banks crashing and conventional fuel prices soaring, the movement towards alternative energy has suddenly become a stampede. All over the country people are rushing to install new systems, partly in laudable attempts to reduce the carbon output of their homes, but mainly to save money.

An opportunity for Gloucestershire Residents

Compared to the rest of the UK the people of Gloucestershire are in a prime position to embrace renewable energy. The county boasts some of the best grant funding for homeowners looking to be liberated from their oil dependence and looking to reduce the personal impact of today’s unpredictable fuel prices.

Gloucestershire County Council and District Councils have together contributed £110,000 for domestic renewable energy grants in the financial year to 31st March 2009. This gives homeowners in Gloucestershire a £1000 grant for the installation of renewable energy products such as heat pumps and solar panels. As well as this local grant the homeowner can also receive significant grant funding from the Government’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme, providing up to an additional £1200 grant. This will be of enormous help to those looking to embrace heat pumps.

Reducing the fuels bills of Gloucestershire Homes

Heat pumps are one of the more popular methods of harnessing heat energy from the ground or air directly outside your home, and in turn effectively and efficiently heating the property. To some this type of heating is an unknown quantity, but to the ever increasing number of Gloucestershire residents involved in the rush to own a heat pump, they play a crucial role in reducing fuel bills and also help to show off the eco-credentials of the owner.

Ground Source Heat Pumps

A ground source heat pump is an appliance similar to the size of an upright fridge freezer and like an oil boiler it is connected to the building’s radiators or water filled underfloor heating. The heat pump will get its heat from a network of pipes buried down to 2 metres under the grass, through which a solution is pumped absorbing a low level of heat from the surrounding ground. Once this solution reaches the home, the heat pump will turn the low level of heat into much higher temperatures that are capable of heating your home.

This concept can seem difficult to grasp, but heat pumps have been around for a long time, especially on the continent in countries like Sweden where heat pumps are now the most common form of residential heating.

Air Source Heat Pumps

In Europe air source heat pumps have over taken sales of ground source heat pumps proving to be a very viable alternative. With the UK experiencing increasingly mild winters with the air temperatures rarely falling below zero, there is a surprisingly high level of heat available in the outside air. An air source heat pump works on exactly the same principle as its ground source companion but gets heat from the air and not the ground. It then also transfers this heat to the radiators or water filled underfloor heating.

Mow much does a heat pump cost?

You can now see costs and details of fully installed air source heat pumps in the EcoVision Store which delivers energy saving products nationwide.

Find out how to get the Grants

Those Gloucestershire residents that are actively researching renewable energy now are those who stand to benefit the most. The funding pots for the local and national grants will not last forever. Call EcoVision now on 0845 003 8001 to discuss your project and we’ll be happy to take you through the grant options.

CALL US NOW ON 0845 003 8001