Pay-back Periods Of Renewable Energy

The best and simplest measure of a house energy improvement is its pay-back time – simply, how long it takes to repay your original investment. Once that time has gone, your energy and/or water bills drop, and the savings are yours to keep.

The best first steps are to take the ‘free’ and low-cost improvements. Free improvements have immediate pay-back times, and include better energy habits (switching off lights when leaving rooms, not leaving water taps running) and can often save 10% of your energy bills. Low-cost improvements include things like better insulation and low-energy lights. These repay within three to five years, and can save another 10 or 20%. They also bring double savings when you install renewable energy systems: they reduce the size (and so the cost) of the system you need to install.

The best approach is then normally to install a solar thermal system to replace your gas, oil or electric hot water heating. Solar thermal systems can have a pay-back period of around five years. They can provide 60% of your hot water needs, just from the sun’s energy. They use diffuse light and so even work on cloudy days – they don’t need direct sunlight.

The payback times of photovoltaic (PV) systems are longer – around 15 years for a decent sized system. That is falling all the time, though, as PV systems become cheaper and as fuel prices rise. PV systems generate electricity directly from the sun, and are the only way for most people to free themselves from uncertain future electricity prices.

In Germany, homeowners now often install solar PV systems to bring an income for the household during retirement. The sooner you install a renewable energy system the sooner you can enjoy bill-free energy, and actually begin to profit from it.

As a not-for-profit co-operative, R-ECO’s prices are amongst the lowest in the industry, giving you the shortest possible pay-back times. We will help you make all the free and low-cost improvements, and recommend the best renewable energy supply. Then, your house also becomes your energy supply.