Green plan to help cut fuel bills

Green technology will be used to help reduce the fuel bills of low income households in a £2m pilot scheme. Wales was chosen as one of four areas of the UK to take part in the scheme where homes will be made more fuel efficient.

Homes will be made more fuel efficient by methods such as using pumps in the ground to transfer heat indoors.

Half of the money will come from the UK government with the assembly government paying the rest. It is hoped the production of energy on a small scale in a system known as microgeneration will be used to reduce fuel costs.

Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing Jane Davidson said: "These technologies will not only help reduce fuel bills and carbon emissions but will engage people and communities in thinking about how their energy is produced and used, which is vital if we are to meet our long-term targets for tackling climate change."

UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, launching the pilot scheme, said households with low incomes could most benefit from this type of green technology.

He said: "It will help us better to understand the role microgeneration technologies for space-heating can play in helping the fuel poor, building on the wider support that is already available."

The other pilot areas are north-east England, Yorkshire and Humberside, and East Anglia.

Source: BBC