How’s this for confusing? On the one hand (if you search long and hard enough), there are apparently grants for greening up your home by adding wind turbines of solar panels to your roof. That’s pretty forward thinking, and it looks like it could pay off in more ways than one. Not only do you get free energy, but the planet benefits (admittedly in a very small way), and it could make your home easier to sell.

As thelondonpaper reported a couple of days back, from June all home-owners looking to sell their properties will have to pay £200 for an Energy Performance Certificate first, to be included in the new Home Information Packs that house hunters will get to read when choosing a property. Like those tickets you get on the door of a new fridge or washer-drier, these will rate your home on a scale of A to G, with the most efficient homes gaining top marks.

So, green up your home and you have a better chance of selling it on at a higher price, right?

Wrong.

A brief story printed in Tuesday’s London Lite explaines how:

Homeowners who spend money on eco-friendly wind turbines may face higher council taxes, MPs warned today. An all-party Commons trade and industry committee report says “if home owners invest in solar panels, wind turbines or energy efficiency measures, this is likely to increase the value of their properties and result in higher council tax bills”.

How’s that as a disincentive for going green?

Related posts:

1. Home-made power
2. The cost of solar power
3. Easy-to-grow crops, the ultimate eco house and solar panel loans