Will Government Incentivise Biomass Heating?

The British Government may take a leaf out of our neighbours’ book, as its French counterpart is incentivising biomass heating installations and ground source heat pumps for low income families.

Connexion France reported that French environment minister Nicolas Hulot is making energy efficient homes a top priority for the country, ahead of the imminent budget announcement. 

Hulot is working to speed up the process in which tax credits are handed out for work to improve insulation in homes, while he is also looking to introduce subsidies of as much as €3,000 (£2,600) for low-income households who want to replace an older, inefficient heating unit with a renewable heating system such as ground source heat pumps and biomass heaters.

Biomass heating systems are becoming more accessible for ordinary householders thanks to companies like Greenfields Penrith, who supply, install and service domestic and commercial biomass boilers, helping more people save money with a new, renewable and economical heating system. 

The French minister’s plans to encourage renewable heating system installations is in addition to Hulot’s ambitious electric car incentive, which will see €2,500 cash incentives and a €6,000 subsidy handed to anyone who wishes to switch from a pre-1997 registered petrol or pre-2001 registered diesel car to an electric vehicle. 

British environment ministers will be listening closely to what their French colleagues will be announcing at next week’s budget, which is reported to be favourable towards helping to improve the energy efficiency of low income households, reduce pollution and help curb climate change.