Payback Times

Published on 28^th June, 2010

Lu Quinney, Editor of the Renewable Energy Installer magazine, has a bit to say about the renewables technology mindset. Quite rightly, she points out that in no other industry do you buy a product with the calculations whirring away in your head on when it will start recouping its cost. “A brand new vehicle is going to lose money the moment it is driven off the forecourt. But do we care? No. The latest plasma screen TV…we forked out hundreds of pounds for is little more than a whimsy. We buy these items because they serve a purpose, they enhance our lives and let us got on with other leisurely pursuits.” And yet, so many people are reluctant to purchase any kind of renewable technology for their homes because in their minds, it is inextricably tied up with the returns, and how long before it is running ‘for free’.

This is partly of course because of the myriad ways the government has offered to subsidise our various attempts at ‘going green’. As soon as someone starts rewarding our efforts, we naturally think about how we can get more. Thus, delicate and complicated computations take place to see just how much cash we can squeeze out of this deal, and if it doesn’t come to enough, we decline, secure in the knowledge that we were sufficiently savvy to avoid such an atrocious arrangement.

And this is where it all goes wrong. As Lu Quinney says, “How easily we forget that there targets to be met and…a planet to look after.” It’s not about making money, it’s about doing our bit to save the environment, even if it costs us a bit more. Because, clichéd as it is, the cost our the future is a bill we cannot afford to pay.

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