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B&Q To Sell Wind Turbines

Posted: 02/10/2006

In August the electrical retailer Currys began selling photovoltaic solar panels at selected stores. Now DIY superstore B&Q plans to sell budget-priced wind turbines and solar panels in 300 towns and cities throughout the UK. The wind turbines will cost £1,498 and the solar thermal panels by R M Solar cost from the same – with a survey and installation included in the price.

B&Q claim the average household should see the devices pay for themselves in three or four years, as long as no major changes are needed in the existing heating and plumbing systems.

A range of other energy efficient devices recommended by the Energy Saving Trust, such as low energy lightbulbs, will also be available at the participating stores.

The initial promotion will last five weeks and is an experiment to 'test the waters'. However B&Q say the new lines are a response to 'genuine consumer interest'. With energy prices projected to continue rising, coupled with increasing mortgage payments, we predict that consumers will increasingly look to energy efficiency for cost reductions, they said. 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.

It is hoped that if take up by the mass market is great enough, it could drive the price of microgeneration technology down, energy generating devices could then become a common part of home improvements, instead of something that required a belief in the green cause.

B&Q said it 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.

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