Incentives 'make biofuel analysis more appealing for households'

Biofuel analysis could look more appealing to households in financial terms thanks to the introduction of incentives for renewable heating installations.

The Biomass Energy Centre (BEC) says the launch of the Renewable Heating Incentive helps to push biofuel analysis towards the economical end of the spectrum, with natural materials like wood gaining as a result due to their role as fuels.

BEC information officer Will Rolls comments: "We think it would support the development of the industry and jobs in the forestry industry supplying fuel. It would also promote biomass as a fuel."

At present, one of the main limitations preventing household biofuel installations is the economy of scale, he says.

While the long-term financial benefits are good thanks to the savings made on heating energy costs, Mr Rolls explains that the initial infrastructure can prove prohibitively costly for very small-scale projects, which is one way in which an incentive scheme could help by providing the set-up funds.