Solar water heating has a massive potential to reduce households’ greenhouse gas emissions but red tape and uncertain grants mean this is almost entirely untapped, according to a new report.

The report, which used Government figures, found that solar water heating could provide around a quarter of the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions required from households over the next 40 years to tackle climate change.

This was the equivalent of taking nearly 4 million cars off the road, said the report, which comes as the Government is due to announce a restructuring of incentives for “micro-generation” in the Budget.

Written by Nick Radford, a former parliamentary researcher, for the West Country company Soltrac, it estimates that solar water heating – distinct from photovoltaic panels which generate electricity - can provide 60-70 per cent of the average household’s hot water needs over a year.

This would give average annual financial savings of £232 a year for the average household and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 665 kg a year.

If widely installed, this relatively mature “green” technology could save 3.5 million tons of carbon from reaching the atmosphere each year.

Despite the vast potential savings, only 100,000 households or 0.004 per cent of the housing stock had solar water panels on their roofs.

Solar water heating tubes or panels cost around £2500-£4000 installed.

At times, there is a grant towards this of £400 under the Government’s low carbon building programme, meant to give an incentive to householders and stability for installers.

If this grant is available, it can bring installations down below the payback time of ten years, a critical threshold for customers.

But grants have dried up in the past and this one is only guaranteed until next year so householders cannot plan and installers cannot gear up with security.

Then there is the £1800 a year registration fee for approved installers, a lot for small businesses and the widespread variation in planning requirements for solar panels on roofs.

The report concludes: “In spite of good intentions and headline targets, the Government is failing to deliver a system that gives incentive to the domestic and commercial consumer to take one of the simple steps in going green.’

“Instead the industry is being stifled by overbearing measures: the consumer is being disillusioned and the environment continues to bear the cost of unnecessary emissions.”

Hugh Synge, a scientist formerly with Kew Gardens who started the company two years ago, said: “After an intensive year of installations, we have been delighted at how well the systems perform – far better incidentally than official estimates – and encouraged at the satisfaction and support of our customers.

“But we have been disappointed, indeed astonished, to find that we face a host of obstacles from government, despite the rhetoric on combating climate change and the commitment to renewable energy.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform said: “We are committed to playing our full part in tackling climate change by reducing carbon emissions and increasing our use of renewable energy.

“We are already making good progress and have doubled the amount of energy we get from renewable sources in the last 2 years to almost 5 per cent and under current plans this will triple again to 15 per cent by 2015.

“But in order to meet our challenging targets we need to go further and are working on a new renewable strategy that will look afresh at all proposals that could boost microgeneration.”

via The Telegraph

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