Have you ever considered creating your own power> There are lots of renewable options that can be used in almost any home. You can save on general electricity, cut down utility bills and even make a little money selling unused power. So what options may be available to you?
Solar thermal
A solar panel can be used to heat hot water and works alongside an existing system. This means when there is sunlight, you can generate power to create hot water and not need to use gas and electricity to power your boiler for the job. You may need to get a new tank that works with this kind of system and you do need a house facing within 90 degrees of south.
Photovoltaic
This is another type of solar panel that creates electricity from sunlight. You have the panels fitted to the roof so again a 90 degree of south angle is needed. It can be expensive to set up but if you general more power than you need, there are schemes to sell it back to utility companies.
Wind turbines
Most of the times wind turbines are massive things seen in hilly fields or at sea. But smaller, home-sized versions are becoming available and if you live in the right kind of area, they may be worth considering. There can be restrictions about where you can put them with planning permission or local regulations so check this first.
Heat pumps
These use the principles of refrigeration (vapour compression) to create heat from water, ground or air and then transfer to an electric pump. Little maintenance is available, but the cost is variable depending on what source you want to use. You do want to make sure your home is well insulated if you go with this idea.
Conclusion
Not everyone will be able to produce their own electricity at this point, but we can all do more to conserve it and therefore make our homes more energy efficient. It also has the benefit of saving money on those utility bills as well.
As time goes on, we can expect to see people talking more and more about renewable energy. The UK government has even decided to start issuing grants to support off-shore windfarms and renewable technologies.