The panels stay with the house so the new owner has to take on the agreement. If you want the panels removed before the end of the 25 years then you can request this but there is obviously a fee attached to doing so. At the end of the 25 years you can either ask the company to take them down (at no cost since the agreement has ended) or they will just leave the panels and equipment in place (but then of course the maintenance, repair and any liabilities transfer to the home owner).

[url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/29/energy_saving_trust_report/War on Standby[/url!

The unsightliness might not be that much of a problem in the future. There's talk that roof tiles will be made out of solar photovoltaic material eventually, so they'll look pretty much like a normal roof.

I've seen a couple of fairly impressive systems using ground source heat pumps, with solar panels providing 90% of the electricity to run the heat exchanger and heat pump, resulting in in a building with almost no energy bills, apart from the rather high cost of setting it up in the first place. Needs a very well insulated property and plenty of south facing roofspace for the solar panels though.

The major problem with all the detractors of alternative energy systems, be that solar, wind, water, geo-thermal or whatever, is that they forget that our main energy carriers currently in use are finite resources. We've spent the best part of 300 years extracting these carriers from the ground and only in relatively recent times, have some suggested it can't go on forever.

Yes, the alternatives are expensive and inefficient but so was the internal combustion engine when it was forst introduced. As time goes on, the technologies will improve and economies of scale will bring prices down. The only things preventing that happening sooner, are a lack of vision, a reluctance to invest and denial that the way we provide and use energy MUST change.

Really is a no brainer,i had them fitted in march,cost £10K,just got my 1st quarter cheque from British Gas(my electy suppler)for £273,saved about another £130 offa my bill.
East stand sponsors sell/fit them,buy if you can and if you cant get free ones and run everything(as much as poss) you can during sunlight hrs.
Tariff is going down and down,i was lucky and got in at 21p,ging down again soon iirc.
Highly reccommended pay or free !!!

Peter.

Did a PV job recently that included some sort of passive switch (fairly new I think, cost around £1k). When the system in running near capactity it turns on the electric immersion & heats up your hot water as well, effectively bypassing the need for solar thermal.