Many UK households are still confused about the benefits of renewable energy, according to a new research survey.

Nearly two-thirds of homeowners admitted they didn’t know enough about microgeneration systems, such as solar and wind, to make an informed decision on whether to invest or not.

Whilst the vast majority believe renewable energy is important, many are confused about the actual benefits technologies like solar power can bring to them and have little or no understanding of the financial and energy benefits of other systems such as biomass boilers, air and ground-source heat pumps and wind turbines.

However, what is certain is that homeowners are looking for cost savings as the main reason to invest in Renewable Energy technology. When asked what would motivate them to consider a switch to Renewable Energy, 74% of respondents put ‘lowering household energy bills’ ahead of any other factor including ‘reducing your carbon footprint (68%).

At CleanEnergyCashback.com, we’re committed to helping our customers choose which renewable energy option best suits their needs, and our unique Energy Selector sets out the benefit of each technology to help homeowners decide which system to go for.

Amongst the survey’s other findings were:

• 80% of those asked were warm to the idea of Renewable Energy, with 38% believing it is something everyone should be thinking about.  Only 5% said they were not interested in it at all.

• Concerns over the cost of installation and return on investment are holding people back. 94% thought installation costs would be too high with 60% unconvinced about cost savings and the length of time it would take to get any real return.

• Knowledge of the Government’s grants and subsidies put in place to encourage people to generate their own power, is poor. 42% had not heard of either the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) or the forthcoming Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Of those who had, there was a high degree of confusion on how they worked and what the actual benefits were.

The report, commissioned by ReEnergise Renewables, polled over 200 homeowners in central-southern England in November 2010.

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