Green energy, eco friendly buildings and environmentally sensitive building materials are increasingly becoming much more mainstream in the UK and the US, but are still relatively unknown in Italy. There are a small amount of Italian companies providing green solutions in the building industry in Italy but they are still relatively few and far between and British clients wanting green solutions for their new building project or renovation often turn to established companies in the UK to travel to Italy to carry out any works that are required.Often in these more eco aware days large farmhouse or country house owners now considering other heating sources other than gas as in Italy electricity is rarely used for heating purposes, and gas, both town gas and LPG are the common fuel used for heating in most homes. But the cost of gas for supplying heating and hot water has been rising rapidly over the past 18 months and shows no signs of decreasing over the medium to long term.Today other alternative ways of supplying heat in buildings are increasingly being utilised, and these include ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, wood burning stoves with back boilers supplying radiators and of course solar panels to supply both hot water and electricity.

Marchetownhouses was originally retained by a client wanting a different solution for her heating requirements and it has become increasingly involved in supplying alternative energy solutions to clients in the southern and central Le Marche areas. We are constantly on the look out for different types of efficient alternative energy sources to offer our clients who are interested in sustainable and low carbon solutions for their heating and hot water.Of course the use of solar power for heating water and providing small amounts of electricity Italy has the advantage over the UK in that Italy has many more hours of sunshine throughout the year and the sunlight is so much stronger than in the UK where solar panels are mainly used to heat water for domestic use.

We at Marchetownhouses find that a combination of either ground source or air source heat pumps coupled with under floor heating systems are now becoming much more popular in new builds and also in major restorations of all types of village and country properties, and of course owners of village properties can also take advantage of most alternative forms of energy except for ground source heat pumps which do require an large area of land which is normally not available in most villages. A complete system for a large house might typically now be a combination of either a pellet stove or wood burning stove with a back boiler to provide heating through radiators. Pellet stoves have long been used as a very efficient form of heating in Italy and are still not very common in the UK.
Together with an air source heat pump linked to under floor heating for kitchen, bathroom and living areas and solar panels to provide hot water many owners find that there is no need to use any other form of heating, but some still use bottled gas for cooking.

This type of energy production is often termed Micro generation and we at Marchetownhouses are happy to advise any one considering Micro generation in their Italian property, whether in an existing home or in a new restoration project. We can offer different solutions for your energy needs and install all of the various systems on offer in the market at the moment.Another benefit of Micro generation is that in Italy any excess electricity of which is generated but not used by the consumer can be also sold back to the electricity company to be fed back into the grid, much the same as happens in the UK. Grants are now becoming available toward the cost of solar panels for domestic hot water and electricity production and I see all the various types of installations becoming much more common in the future.

Micro generation is in our view the way forward for our clients energy needs, both as a green solution to the problem of the production of excess CO2 in the atmosphere, and also because the economics of heating houses using imported mainly gas. The price of gas is set to continue to increase in year on year, and it makes sense to become more self sufficient for all our energy needs. At Marchetownhouses we have connections with various green energy equipment suppliers and specialists in the southern Le Marche region, but who are also willing to supply projects, both large and small throughout the whole Le Marche region.  So please do contact us at Marchetownhouses and we will be happy to advise you and arrange a home or site visit to discuss a possible green solution for your existing or new property in Le Marche.