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Wind turbines set fair to become a DIY favouriteBy Charles Clover, Environment Editor (Filed: 29/09/2006) The DIY retailer B&Q is to sell budget-priced wind turbines and solar panels in 300 of its stores from next month because it believes consumers are ready to embrace a low-energy future.
The wind turbines cost £1,498 and the solar panels cost from the same ñ with a survey and installation included in the price. If the survey says few modifications to existing plumbing or heating are necessary, the company says the average household should see the devices pay for themselves in three or four years. B&Q is also selling a range of other energy efficient devices recommended by the Energy Saving Trust, such as low energy lightbulbs, but the arrival of cut-price microgeneration on the high street represents a watershed. Ian Cheshire, the chief executive, said the five-week promotion was an experiment and the company expected to find out the extent to which the public would join in, but he emphasised that B&Q was responding to "genuine consumer interest". "With high energy prices projected to continue rising, coupled with increasing mortgage payments, we predict that consumers will increasingly look to energy efficiency for cost reductions," he said. He said that if the mass market could drive the price of the turbines and solar water heaters down, they could become a common part of home improvements, instead of something that required a belief in the green cause. Even if the promotion did not produce the results expected, the company still expects to stock turbines and solar panels in a year's time. Mr Cheshire said: "In the end we believe that just another way that you add value to your home will be by making it more efficient and costing less to run." Mr Cheshire said B&Q did not want to mislead people, so it was organising surveys from the outset to see if customers' houses were unsuitable for wind turbines, such as being in a wind shadow, a built-up area or a conservation area where there might be planning objections. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/29/nturbine29.xml
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