National Trust 'to fit new boilers'

Article date : 15/02/2010

Historic homes in the UK are set to become more energy efficient, following an announcement by the National Trust.

According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, the trust has pledged to install over 50 new boilers at mansions and historic buildings it owns over the next five years in an effort to make its central heating systems more energy efficient.

The boilers are set to be of the biomass variety, which means they will be fuelled by wood chips or pellets, sources from a sustainable tree plantation.

Other green plans for the trust's various properties across the UK include the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and water wheels to generate clean, renewable energy.

It is hoped the scheme will see the trust reduce its energy use by 20 per cent and its reliance on fossil fuels by 50 per cent in the next decade.

Dame Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said: "By cutting our energy consumption and growing our own energy locally, from renewable sources we will have more money to spend on the places we look after."

Britons may find they can reduce their energy bills by installing solar panels, while the boiler scrappage scheme currently in force also offers money off the cost of a new biomass boiler.

Written by Jasper Cullen

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