Cathy is keen to discover the truth about wind and solar for her house

Cathy moved to Devon in 2005 and whilst refurbishing her new house from top to bottom, her passion for energy efficiency and renewable energy was ignited. Now the founder of renewables website YouGen, she knows a thing of two about suitable green technologies and understands the struggles people face when trying to compare different devices. Cathy and her husband mounted the Power Predictor in their garden and were eager to find out which renewable technology is appropriate them.

“I know that the wind speed data available is calculated per square kilometre and therefore varies enormously from place to place within that area. I am worried that there are too many trees and buildings around my area which will cause turbulence and therefore decimate the potential wind energy.”

Before uploading their data onto the website and viewing their Power Report, Cathy and her husband were unsure whether or not it was economically viable to invest in a solar panel or wind turbine. “It makes sense to actually measure your green potential before investing, that way you can find out for sure whether it’s worth it.” Cathy also likes the fact that the Power Predictor “puts people in charge, enabling them to make good decisions and verify the claims made by sellers”.

An extract from Cathy's solar report for May 2009:

The Power Report concluded that solar energy was definitely the best renewable energy source for them and provided compelling evidence that their home was not suitable for wind turbines. The Debenhams are now considering Solar photovoltaic panels based on the Power Predictors recommendations. However, having already invested in solar thermal panels for hot water, their wish to be greener may prove difficult with the limited south-facing roof space they have available.