Yorkshire firms' heat benefits

09/01/12

By Steven Birch

The Government has revealed that two Yorkshire-based businesses will become the first to get paid for generating heat from renewable sources.

Umbrella maker Booth Brothers in Sheffield, which is based at an 18th century former mill, will be rewarded for using an underfloor heating system powered by a renewable energy heat pump.

Meanwhile, Broadgate Farm Cottage in Beverley, East Yorkshire, will also be given cash incentives for five holiday lets that provide heat and hot water via a ground source heat pump.

They are the first two businesses to be rewarded under an £860 million incentive scheme designed to encourage more firms to install low-carbon heating systems.

It has been estimated that around 50 per cent of Britain's carbon emissions come from heating, with 95 per cent of heat currently produced by burning fossil fuels.

Climate change minister Greg Barker said: "Renewable heat is a largely untapped resource and an important new green industry of the future.

"It'll help the UK shift away from fossil fuel, reducing carbon emissions and encouraging innovation, jobs and growth in new advanced technologies."