Mark Ruskell: The future for renewables lies inside our homes

Recent energy price rises will have left many consumers enraged. Meanwhile, the debate about renewable energy focuses so much on wind farms that the huge untapped potential to take action in our own homes is often forgotten.

Yet widespread adoption of "home renewables" like solar panels, heat pumps and wood fuel boilers can slash household bills and help Scotland achieve its carbon reduction targets.

A recent poll reveals that nearly two-thirds of Scots are interested in installing renewables but, for nearly 60 per cent of those, cost remains the single biggest barrier.

Westminster's feed-in-tariff, which provides payments for smaller scale electricity generation, led to 1,373 new projects in Scotland in its first 12 months but is expected to be scaled back when reviewed later this year.

From today the renewable heat premium payment offers householders help in paying to install equipment such as heat pumps and solar thermal panels. But the scheme is only designed to cover 10 per cent of up-front costs and in some cases, much less – not enough to stimulate widespread take-up.

There is a real danger that insufficient incentives, together with consumer confusion, means ordinary Scots will end up facing higher than average energy bills and miss out on the chance to benefit from the renewables revolution.

Westminster's flagship Green Deal, to be introduced in autumn 2012, could offer an innovative solution. Householders will have the opportunity to take out a loan to pay for up-front energy efficiency measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation. However, to really help consumers to cut energy demand and reduce carbon emissions, the Green Deal should also cover the installation of home renewables.

Using the scheme to both reduce energy use and encourage the generation of green energy would be a truly effective way of reducing up front costs. Otherwise, the future of renewables may remain in our hills and seas rather than in our homes.

• Mark Ruskell works for www.GreenEnergyNet.com