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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Costing the Earth

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Fresh ideas from the sharpest minds working toward a cleaner, greener planet

BBC Radio 4 LW

Costing the Earth: Turbines in the Back Garden

Turbines in the Back Garden

22/03/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, Turbines in the Back Garden

Do new rules make it profitable to make your own electricity? Tom Heap investigates.

Is it worth coating your roof in solar cells? New rules should make it profitable for individuals to make their own electricity. Tom Heap crunches the numbers.

Can you make money from electricity? New rules are designed to make it profitable for individuals to erect wind turbines and put solar panels on their roofs, using the electricity for their own use and selling the surplus to the grid.

Tom Heap is planning a turbine for his home on the windy Isle of Mull. If anyone can make a packet from the wind racket, then surely it's Tom. He crunches the numbers to discover just what kind of income he can expect from his new turbine. Is it reliable, low maintenance and highly profitable? If it stacks up for his home, how do the figures look for urban dwellers? Could we all be giving power rather than taking it? Could we all be making a little pocket money from the sun and the wind?

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Costing the Earth

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