Technologies

This section provides a brief description of the available decentralised and renewable or low carbon technologies:

1. Solar thermal 
2. Photovoltaics
3. Wind       
4. Biomass
5. Fuel cells      
6. Energy from waste
   • Biological
   • Thermal
7. Hydro       
8. Heat pumps
9. Wave and Tidal
10. CHP or CCHP

All of the above can be applied provide decentralised energy, depending on the application. The question of which technologies qualify as renewable or low carbon is not clear cut. In some cases there are specific criteria which must be met, such as minimum efficiency levels for CHP, or restrictions on the materials that can be used as fuels.

Government departments and other agencies such as HM Revenue and Customs have defined what they consider to be renewable and low carbon technologies for various purposes, including eligibility for grants or fiscal incentives, or compliance with the requirements of the Code and BREEAM.

The RSS Policy ENV5 target of 10% includes both renewable and low carbon technologies, but it does not define what these include. The technologies in this section have been selected as potentially suitable for developments in Yorkshire and Humber. The regional and local authorities will need to decide whether they are eligible. Links to useful information on the technologies are provided here.