Getting started

Step 1 – Make your home energy-efficient

To ensure you get the most out of your renewable technology, make your home as energy-efficient as possible before you start. Think about insulating, draught-proofing and double-glazing wherever you can, making your  heating and hot water systems run efficiently, and  saving water.

Step 2 – Find out the options for your property

The factors to consider for your property are:

• for solar PV and solar thermal: which way your roof faces
• for solar thermal, heat pumps and biomass: space inside and outside
• for hydroelectricity, whether you have a stream or river running past
• for wind turbines, what the average wind speed is.

Use our Home Energy Generation Selector to identify the technologies that might be suitable to generate heat or electricity for your home.

Use the links on the left to get detailed information about each type of system for generating electricity or heat, or both. Or see our overview of what's available.

Step 3 – Decide what you want to achieve

Most people want to save money and reduce their emissions at the same time, and it is becoming more possible to achieve both of these. But sometimes there are other factors that might influence your choice.

• If you need to replace your boiler or central heating system anyway, installing a new biomass boiler or heat pump becomes more cost-effective.
• If you want to save the most carbon dioxide, consider wood-fuelled heating, a large wind turbine or a large solar PV system.
• If you want to do a bit for the environment but have limited funds, think about a cheaper option such as solar water heating.
• If you live in an isolated rural property with no mains electricity, you may get the most reliable off-grid supply from  hydro if you have the resource, or from a mixture of  wind and solar PV.

Step 4 – Narrow the options

Now you know which options suit your site and your needs, you can narrow down the options and consider:

• the size of the system
• what products are available
• the costs
• any issues about the installation.

It's worth talking to anyone in your area who's installed similar technologies to find out what the issues were for them.

Step 5 – Check planning and insurance

Check whether you need planning permission. Many domestic generation systems are now classed as permitted development in England, Scotland and Wales: they do not need planning permission provided they meet certain criteria. The rules are different for different technologies – and for different countries. There is more information on the pages for each technology, but to be certain you should contact your local authority.

Check with your home insurance provider to make sure your policy covers the changes to your home, and make any adjustments you need. Some policies cover the more common systems such as solar PV.

Step 6 – Work out what you can save – and earn

All the systems here can potentially save money by reducing the amount of electricity or heating fuel you need to buy. Now new schemes are coming in so that you can earn more money just for producing energy from renewable sources:

• The Feed-In Tariff (FIT) pays you when you produce your own electricity using an eligible renewable system such as wind or solar PV, at a guaranteed rate for every unit you generate. And the FIT will also pay you for electricity you don't use, which you can export back to the grid.
• From autumn 2012, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will give similar payments to owners of eligible renewable heating systems such as solar water heating and wood boilers.

How much you save and earn will depend on a number of factors, including technology, the size of the system, your location, and the size of your house. You can use our cashback calculator to get an initial estimate of how a system might perform for you.

Step 7 – Get help with paying for it

From 1 August 2011 to 31 March 2012, you may be able to get a payment from the Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme towards the cost of a wood boiler, heat pump or solar water heating system. There may be other grants available in your area – use our grants and discounts database to find out.

You can get FIT and RHI payments over the lifetime of a system, and these can be used to pay off a loan so you don’t have to put in any money up front. You should seek independent financial advice if you are in any doubt about borrowing money.

There are even companies who will put solar PV on your roof for free. They will take all the FIT payments to recover their costs, so your financial savings will be very small, but you won’t have to invest a penny of your own money. Find out more about free solar PV systems and the companies offering them.

Step 8 – Find an installer

We recommend you use an installer who:

• is registered under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS)
• uses MCS-certified products
• is a member of the REAL Assurance scheme, designed to give consumers confidence in service standards.

It's worth getting at least three quotations, and arranging for a few potential installers to visit your home and tell you what they can offer and how much it will cost. And if you know people in your area who have had systems installed, ask them who installed it and what they thought of them.

Get a checklist of what to look for and where to look on our page on finding an installer.

Step 9 – Learn how to make the most of your system

Research has shown that it's essential to learn how to use your new system – make sure your installer explains the system and its controls fully before they finish, and that they hand over any manuals that come with the system. This is a standard part of the installation process, and any competent installer should be happy to spend time talking to you.