Air and ground source heat pumps, solar thermal, biomass - which renewable tech will be the right fit for your project?

The Sahara solar thermal panels from Grant UK (www.grantuk.com) are available in in-roof (shown here), on-roof and flat roof collector mounting configurations.

Many self builders and renovators look to install renewable home tech for their heating system. Whether that’s to lower bills or to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, there are various options available. However, some words of wisdom from Build It’s eco expert Nigel Griffiths - don’t just install eco-products because you think that they must the best option in terms of efficiency. Do your research and understand what makes sense for you and your property, because that might mean that actually a gas boiler comes in with a lower carbon footprint overall, for instance.

Saying that, there are lots of pros to utilising renewable energy to power your heating system. There are also some government incentives available for renewable products, so look into whether you can get funding to help with costs. Here are the main options:

Biomass boilers

This tech does the same job as a conventional gas boiler, providing space heating and domestic hot water. Biomass is any form of plant matter (normally wood) that can be burned to deliver heat. This could be logs or a wood waste product specifically designed for burning in boilers, such as wood chip or pellets. Wood is considered to be a carbon-neutral fuel, as the CO2 emitted from burning it is slightly less than the carbon that’s absorbed as the tree grows.