Grants for homeowners who want to install small-scale wind turbines should be assessed to make sure the technology is actually going to save carbon emissions, a report has recommended.
The study by the Carbon Trust and Met Office showed that installing turbines on the roofs of urban homes may not generate enough green electricity to even counter the carbon emissions created by their manufacture and use.
The research said rural a
reas could deliver four times as much electricity and carbon savings from small-scale wind generation as in cities and towns.
Because wind speeds are generally higher in rural areas, installations in some parts of the countryside could provide electricity which was competitive in terms of cost with grid power. But in urban areas roof-mounted turbines may not even pay back the carbon emitted during their production, installation and operation.
Currently, homeowners can apply for a grant of up to £2,500 from the Government under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme to help them install microgeneration technology while communities, not-for-profit and public sector organisations can apply for up to half the installation costs.
The Carbon Trust recommended that future grant schemes should have criteria for measuring the likely carbon savings of small wind turbines, to ensure grants are awarded to installations which are going to save "reasonable" amounts of CO2.
Wind turbine manufacturers should also have a carbon-labelling system for their products to enable consumers to see the carbon emissions associated with the technology.
And the Carbon Trust urged higher height limits for free-standing turbines, of above 11 metres (36ft), which are allowed without planning permission under permitted development rights, to enable people to best capture the available wind resources.
The report said that in theory, small-scale wind energy could generate some 41.3 terawatt hours of electricity - 12% of UK electricity consumption - and save 17.8 million tonnes of carbon a year in the UK.
But with current electricity prices and the cost of small wind turbines, a fraction of that is deliverable - with the study estimating that if 10% of households had turbines, they could produce 0.4% of total UK energy consumption and save 600,000 tonnes of emissions a year.
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