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You can argue all you like that other fuel options may be better or that biodiesel can not be sustained.. it's just too bad your opinion doesn't count. It is already number one both here in the US and abroad....

Biodiesel is not unlike ethanol, but without the miserable energetics. It might surprise you that ethanol is way ahead of biodiesel at 2.81 billion gallons in 2003. The only biofuels that have a chance to replace petroleum will come from algae, which are orders of magnitude more efficient than higher plants.

It seems as if the subject has changed suddenly and there is still no answer to your question...

Let's see if I can give it a go:

There is not really enough information to make a good suggestion.

Typical UPS's won't help keep the heat on. A good UPS that can handle the motor load and last for more than an hour would be very expensive.

Solar does not seem to be good for the UK, unless you happen to be in a very sunny place.

A standby generator may be good, provided the local council doesn't get their fingers in it.

Wind power may be cost effective if there is enough wind but again, it may really annoy the council and neighbours may also take offence.

If you can hide a quiet generator, it may be the better way to go. It can be wired into the house with a cutover switch. It can run for days and you can keep it filled with diesel, petrol or LPG or whatever gas you wish to use.

Research and study is needed on your part, or you can hire a consultant to do the work.

Here are some places to start checking:

Home Power Magazine

Re-Focus Magazine

Renewable Energy World Magazine

Might help to get hard copies of such magazines.

There should be lots of stuff on Yahoo.

There are books on solar and wind power at amazon, ranging from 10 to 60 quid or so.

Ain't gonna happen for the very simple fact there just isn't enough solar radiation hitting the surface of the planet.

I call bullshit. Average solar irradiation is in the range of 2-5 kWh/m2 per year in Europe, which happens to roughly equal a typical household's electricity consumption. This means that at, say, 10% overall efficiency (including storage losses) just 7 m2 of south-facing roof surface (including a sqrt(2) factor for roof slant) supply a household's worth of electricity. Replacing fossil fuels might triple the surface required, but still in all but the densest urban areas photovoltaic roof tiles alone could cover local energy needs.

And this is for Europe - in much of the U.S. solar irradiation is much higher and population/habitation density much lower, so your claim is absolutely ludicrous. Kindly refrain from misrepresenting your unfounded prejudices as fact.

We step outside and think: Man, that sun is hot, I'll bet there's a lot of energy there if we could just harness it.

Well and guess what, we're right. On a sunny summer day we get about 1 kW/m2 of solar irradiation, enough to power a hair dryer. Just how do you think sand, rocks, etc. can get too hot to walk on in the midday sun? The only real problems with photovoltaics are energy storage and the cost/efficiency tradeoff, and a low-cost high-efficiency solar cell would eliminate the latter.

Locate the plant where the waste is being treated, like they do already in Lithuania Germany and Oregon.

You are already moving the sewage around as it is, so that expense is already there. The waste output of the biogas fermener is much safer than the sludge that existing sewage plants produce, and it can be further composted to produce safe, high quality, organic fertilizer.

There are also existing farm waste facilities (as was previously discussed here on /.) and existing technology to tap land fills in the same manner. It's energy that can be easily converted to a usable, transportable form (electricity) that wopuld otherwise go to waste. The gasses that are being converted are greenhouse gasses (mostly methane) that are not readily sinkable, and the waste products from the fuel cell are only (easily sinkable) CO2 and water.

The other implication of this technology that is less spoken about is that it decentralizes the source of energy away from the fossil fuel companies and spreads the profits closer to the community where the energy is being produced, either through lower costs for waste treatment, or through direct profit from the sale of the electricity if the facility is privately owned. This means lower costs for energy and lower trade deficit.

It's a winning situation for those who live in communities that take advantage of this, and the only people who lose out are the energy companies.

Well, ok, not only solar energy, better than this actually. The Renewable Energy Magazine is a great resource in the domain. It is also free providing you work with renewable resources. I have been reading this magazine for a year and learned so much on renewable energies. Worthed. See http://www.jxj.com/magsandj/rew/index.html

Maybe they could try some of these ideas in order to get power back temporarily where needed.

If you are into 'getting off the grid'

Home Power

If this kind of thing excites you, consider co-generation with a sterling-cycle engine. With the external combustion option, you could power the heating with buringin cue:cat's

These people (jxj.com) are big into co-generation.

Co-generation on a small scale. 10% of the heat goes up the stack