But 8.5 million homes could be using sun trap gardens to save money

October 2011 has been one of the warmest and sunniest Octobers on record according to MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, but there are money-saving benefits to a sun-soaked garden that millions of households are missing out on.

More than 8.5 million homes in the United Kingdom have south facing gardens, and The Energy Saving Trust has estimated that each home could save up to £180 annually on fuel bills simply by installing solar panels to catch the sun’s rays and generate electricity.

And as this month has proved, the sunshine isn’t always confined in the summer months.  In fact research by Callcredit Information Group has today revealed that the North West, which has a reputation for cloudy skies and heavy rain, actually has almost one million homes with a south facing garden that could generate energy from daylight.

It’s perhaps no surprise to learn that the area with the highest number of south facing gardens is the South East of England with more than two million homes basking in sunshine, but Yorkshire and Humberside have just over 800,000 homes benefitting from a sun-trap garden followed by the West Midlands, South West of England, and Scotland.

East Anglia has the least amount of south facing gardens, with just 364,000 homes in the area catching the sun. However, less can be more when councils are proactive and savvy; Ipswich council reported earlier this year it is installing solar panels on newly built council-owned houses in a bid to save money on occupants’ fuel bills and reap the rewards from feeding electricity back into the grid.

Callcredit used advanced mapping analysis to identify the orientation of every garden in the UK and where there’s a south facing garden there’s typically a south facing roof.  This information forms part of the firm’s marketing planning and lead generation service for solar panel businesses. Additional selection variables include homeowners, house type and price, council tax band, green attitudes, affluence indicators and age.

South facing homes by Region:

* includes gardens facing South, South West and South East