Grants for greener buildings

A solid financial case is usually critical to the successful implementation of green design intentions.

The ideas that need to be worked on include:

• identifying capital savings as well as costs. Most people assume that green construction is necessarily expensive, but green buildings do not depend solely on cutting-edge technology. For instance, extra insulation might be paid for by the reduced sizes of boiler and radiators required; and limiting solar gain might result in the elimination of any need for air conditioning;
• calculate life cycle costs and benefits. An ideal green building would have lower energy, water, maintenance and waste management costs which can be offset against the initial outlay for materials;
• explain the intangible benefits of green buildings. Improved staff morale, for instance, will improve staff attendance, retention and productivity. Therefore, there will be a genuine financial benefit - even if it is hard to quantify. Studies have shown that good or bad building design can contribute to the productivity of its occupants by plus or minus 15 per cent. However, a tiny improvement in staff productivity (less than 1 per cent) would usually be more than enough to pay for any sustainability premium (staff costs over the life time of a typical office building are much, much higher than the cost of the building);
• finally, do not ignore free money: find out the details as early as you can and submit your grant application early enough to ensure that your project gets funded.

Grants for renewable energy

By providing grants, the government has helped, on a modest scale, to nurture the fledgling renewables industry in the UK, and to increase the profile of building-integrated renewable energy technologies.

In Scotland, the main vehicle for this is the Scottish Community and Household Renewables Initiative (SCHRI). This has been a runaway success, committing all of its annual grant money after only a few months. The Scottish Executive recently allocated extra money for the scheme and announced that SCHRI would be extended through to March 2008, with a budget of £2.2 million per year. The initiative is applicable to a range of renewable energy technologies and offers grants for household projects of 30 per cent of capital costs up to a maximum of £4000. Community projects can apply for larger sums (up to £100,000) and grants are likely to be in the region of 50 per cent of costs. All installations (whether community or household) must be carried out by registered installers. 'Technical' grants to fund feasibility studies, for instance, are also available for community projects (up to £10,000).

The SCHRI does not cover photovoltaic installations. This is funded centrally by the Department of Trade and Industry, through the Energy Savings Trust's (EST) Solar PV Demonstration Programme. However, in a surprise move, the DTI recently announced that funding for this programme would cease at the end of March 2006.

This leaves many new and growing renewable energy companies with serious difficulties. This is an understatement outside Scotland, since the DTI's Clear Skies Programme which is broadly equivalent to the SCHRI is also drying up at the at the same time as the PV programme. At the time of writing, no replacement has been put in place although the government is consulting on a 'Low Carbon Buildings Programme'. At best, this will leave a gap in the availability of capital grants for building integrated renewables.

On the positive side for suppliers of renewable technology, the developing trend for local authority planning departments to require new buildings to meet 10 per cent of their energy needs from building-integrated renewables should boost demand for the most financially viable technologies, thus increasing scale and decreasing costs.

Local grants for renewable energy

If there is no central government or Scottish Executive grant available for your proposed renewable project, it would always be worth investigating whether any other organisations offer grants.

Internet search engines are powerful tools for unearthing this kind of information but phoning real people can offer a short cut to up to date and comprehensible information. Some detective work may be needed to identify the best people to speak to but they should be found in local companies specialising in the technology of interest and might be found in Local Enterprise Companies and local authorities.

One example of this type of grant is the Highland Wood Fuel Project in Scotland which has amassed funding from a range of bodies, including the European Union, the SCHRI and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations offers a wide range of ideas for acquiring grant funding for community building projects. Some of these might be applicable to renewable energy installations.

Energy efficiency grants are available for domestic energy efficiency (particularly insulation) measures for people on benefits. The EST has a useful service which searches for grant availability by postcode. Grants are provided by the government (in Scotland, this is through the Scottish Executive's 'Warm Deal' programme and by others, including utility companies and local authorities.