subject: What Are Feed-In Tariffs? [print this page] Feed-in tariffs allow individuals and organisations to help work towards our renewable energy goals while being rewarded for their efforts and the electricity they produce - even if they're the ones using it. It is a policy that helps gather the collective sources of people from around the world in an attempt to lower the volume of man-made energy, and instead use the energy collected from natural resources that will never run out, such as solar power, wind power and tidal power.
Another of the policy's aims is to help accelerate our progress towards grid parity, an alternative means of creating electricity that is either the same cost or less expensive than grid power, which is what we currently rely upon. In some locations around the globe, grid parity has already been reached, though these are largely comprised of islands such as Hawaii that use fossil fuel as a way of producing electricity, meaning the renewable alternative was highly desirable. However, it is hoped that some areas of the USA will follow this lead and reach grid parity by 2015.
In the UK, the feed-in tariff policy is a new one that has only seen implementation in 2010. The scheme is also known under the title 'clean energy cash back', which does a pretty good job of describing what's involved. It is hoped that individuals, groups and organisations in the UK will jump at the chance to put their talents to use and make some money, therefore lowering their own energy bills, and take part in the scheme.
Alongside the feed-in tariff policy will come the Renewable Heat Incentive, a similar policy that deals with gas instead of electricity and is set to be introduced to the country in 2011. By combining work on the two, it could be the case that the collective energy of the UK goes a long way towards bringing the country towards grid parity and a far better way of sourcing power than nuclear power plants and offshore fields, which are our current main energy practices.
The feed-in tariff policy is part of an encouraging scheme that encourages Britons to take responsibility for their own energy and look for ways in which to reduce the negative impact we have on our planet. And, with benefits such as grid parity and the possibility of cheaper products from your electricity or gas supplier, it's also a very easy scheme to get behind and support.
