THE CASE FOR SOLAR PANELS TO BE FITTED ON ALL NEW HOMES?
Why it is that Sefton Council are so behind the times? We all know how important it is becoming to help generate our own power and not to be continually reliant on importing fuel from foreign countries. Reducing our carbon footprint and also reducing our fuel bills has also become increasingly important for all of us.
One has only has to drive around Sefton to observe the massive amount of new housing that has been built in our locality. This will undoubtedly put increased pressure on out infrastructure both now and in the future but more could be done by our local authority to assist home owners who purchase new properties in reducing their fuel bills and reducing our carbon footprint. Why not insist that all new developments have solar panels fitted to the roof as part of the planning consent?
The average cost of fitting solar panels to a house is £7,000. Once fitted they could provide all the electricity you need for your home and any excess could be sold back to the National Grid.
Also it should be essential that any extension to a property that increases the square footage by 50% should also be obliged to fit solar panels to assist in the provision of extra electricity usage. It seems bizarre that some house extensions are including heated indoor swimming pools, cinema rooms and air conditioned gyms when the rest of us are striving so hard to reduce electricity consumption and our carbon footprint. A typical solar panel system fitted to a house could save up to 1.6 tonnes of carbon per year and with increasing numbers of residents working from home for at least half of the working week it certainly justifies fitting panels to utilise the sun’s energy.
It would be useful if Sefton’s housing company Sandway Homes led by example when building new developments for sale or rent. Consideration should also be made to fitting solar panels to Local Authority buildings or to properties the local authority rent for administration use.
We all want to “play our part” but leadership and direction must come from our Local Authority. They cannot expect to build all these new homes, grant planning permission for massive house extensions, without considering the environmental and financial impact on us all.
