Bodies representing the house building industry and the renewable energy sector joined forces to support a proposed amendment to the Energy Bill that would see homeowners, business and a range of renewable energy schemes rewarded for the energy they produce.

The Home Builders Federation (HBA) and the Renewable Energy Association are calling for the German style 'feed in tariff' to be introduced as part of a range of measures as home builders work towards producing zero carbon homes by 2016. Under the scheme generators are paid a fixed price for every unit of green power that they export.

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Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman of HBF said: "The financial benefits to homeowners and businesses in this initiative are a clear incentive for them to invest in renewable energy technologies. As an industry we need to be looking at a range of measures as we work toward the goal of zero carbon homes. As part of a coordinated drive towards achieving this challenging goal we are looking to work with industry partners, energy suppliers, manufactures and Government and will continue to explore new ways to achieve our objective."

A similar 'feed in tariff' was introduced in Germany in 2001 and in 2007 alone the scheme increased the country's renewable capacity by more than the UK has managed in over a decade. The renewable sector in Germany now employs 250,000 people compared to 7000 in the UK.

(CD/JM)