A brief word about the energy (read tax) policy in the UK, just so you don't think the problem is purely a US one.
I'll start with road transport, as that's the REALLY expensive one.
Here we pay over $6.00 per gallon for petrol or diesel. Diesel has recently become slightly more expensive than petrol because, simply, it is more efficient. Your car will do more miles per gallon with a modern diesel engine than with an equally modern petrol. UK government answer- make diesel proportionally dearer so they don't lose out on their tax revenues (while claiming that diesels are dirty and produce dangerous levels of particulates. Old ones may have done..). At present 47.1p, that's almost a dollar at current rate of exchange, of the price of every LITRE of fuel is tax paid to the government. There are approx 4.54 litres in a British gallon. I believe yours is slightly different?
In addition to that, UK motorists are required to pay car tax every year. This costs less if you have a PETROL car with an engine smaller than 1.3l, slightly more above that and £160 if you drive a diesel or a car with an engine above 1999 cc. That means that almost any American made car (we have Chryslers and stuff here, now) is liable for the maximum rate. Note, the tax varies with 'pollution index', so you can drive a Saab 95 2 litre, which has been proven in tests to actually CLEAN the air that goes through it and still pay the maximum rate. Of course it produces CO2 and water vapour like any combustion process but as near to zero of anything else as to make no difference. So by driving one you are actually helping to suck up and clean the emissions of less efficient cars. But you pay the maximum rate!
On top of that, you have to a safety test called an MOT every year, which costs about £40. Good idea! Make sure cars are safe. However, we also have an agency called VOSA, which drives round, doing roadside checks on vehicles. If your vehicle fails for just about ANY reason, you can't drive it until it's been repaired and re-MOTed. They usually frequent major roads, a fair distance from any town centre or garage, just to make it harder for you!!
You also have to have insurance. Again a good thing! Except that your premium has a 'value-added tax' of 17.5% added to it. What value does an insurance policy have? None at all, unless you have an accident. Oh, yeah, in the UK you are automatically at fault in an accident if you have no insurance, even if the other guy runs into you while you're parked up reading the paper.
If you buy a new car, it costs you on average £3000 in sales tax to drive it off the dealer's forecourt. You sell it on the next day and that money is gone.
Fuel stations obviously have to pay tax on their profits, as do the oil companies and all the employees involved in the fuel industry.
It mounts up real quick, doesn't it.
The government's reasoning for all the above: Cars are bad! They cause congestion, pollution and kill people in accidents. Not about raising revenue at all, then?
They say we should all use public transport, buses, trains, etc.
A nice idea, and in places like Singapore, one that works!
Here, you're wasting your time unless you live in London or one of the few other MAJOR cities. It will commonly take you 4-5 times longer to get somewhere and back than if you just drove. Of course, they're pedestrianizing as many areas as they can, so you don't have that choice.
Is there any policy in place to use vehicles powered by alternative energy? Yes. You can use biodiesel, as long as you pay the 27.1p / litre tax on it.
You can use CNG or LPG, which is about half the price of petrol or diesel, but the conversion costs a packet and subsidies are only available to new cars. You do it to your 1 year old, super-efficient Toyota and you get zip.
A VERY small amount of money is available as government grants to any company involved in researching clean energy, though the regulations governing that are so complex as to be incomprhensible.
There are now a glut of utility companies here, all of whom charge virtually the same for their gas and electricity. ie: too much! I'm ashamed to say I briefly worked for one of them. It involved cold-calling and trying to hassle customers into switching companies so that they could get a cheaper tarrif. In a lot of cases, the people I spoke to would be slightly worse off by changing (not to mention the hassle involved!), but we were told to lie and do it anyway. I didn't last long.
You can legally fit PV panels, to your roof only, without needing planning consent in most of the UK. Put them on a pole and you need approval. Make them track the sun, you need approval. The rules in my county are fairly typical. You can't have them facing a main road without planning approval. Presumably they're worried about glare dazzling passing motorists? Don't see how that could happen, though, given the angles. You can't raise the height of the roofline by more than a certain amount. If your neighbours, their dog or any passer-by complains about it, you then need to get approval. And so on, ad nauseum.
You can't use any wind turbine in an urban or rural area without consent, which in a town you are extremely unlikely to get. Out in the sticks, they'll pretty much let you do it, subject to planning approval and an approval of the materials you intend to use. In practice, I know a few people who've just gone ahead and done it without asking anyone and have had no problem. Of course, there is that thing with complaining neighbours again..
There are quite impressive goverment grants available for PV installations and I believe wind turbines as well, but there is a catch...
You have to have them professionally installed to qualify. It's electrical work and MUST be carried out by an approved contractor. (you can't even add a couple of sockets to a wall now without planning approval and using a certified contractor!)
I'm also fairly sure that the really good grants are available only for grid-tie systems, with the expensive equipment at your own expense.
Luckily I AM a qualified electrician and will very soon have industry approval. A conversation I've had with our local planning officer suggests that even then, I may not be allowed to carry out work on my OWN property, depending on future legislation. And I can't install PVs for anyone else, even if it's an unpaid favour for a friend, without doing a course, which costs £800, and getting NICEIC registration, which costs £360ish a year.
We're building a new rural house when this renovation project is done. Do you think I'm going to comply with all that crap?
I won't go into the UK stance on fusion research, deep-ocean geothermal, wind farms, wave power, etc. Google it. It's depressingly obvious.
