Green energy technologies like solar panels, biomass heaters and wind turbines can offer an excellent alternative to the more common fossil fuels and can help reduce your homes CO2 output.
Investing in a renewable energy system these days, is essentially buying energy at current prices in order to protect from future increases. So if fuel prices rise, your outlay would be recouped even sooner.
Now before you rush out and invest in one of these systems, it’s a good idea to find out your current energy usage and do as much as you can to reduce it. As a lower energy requirement means a smaller and therefore cheaper renewable/low carbon energy system would be sufficient.
Green energy technology can supply our homes with power for lighting, electronic devices and even the pumps in our heating systems.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology:
Solar modules work by converting sunlight into electricity for use in the home or to export to the national grid. Basic domestic solar units are around 2.2 kW in size, and can provide approximately 1,850 kWh a year. This is over 40% of the electricity used by an average household. This technology is one of the easiest to install, has no actual moving parts and the government Feed-in Tariff payments actually help to make it a reasonable investment.
Wind turbines
Small-scale wind turbines can be either integrated into the local electricity grid or operate as an off-grid device, charging batteries when excess electricity is generated. Location is paramount, on a good site domestic wind turbines are an excellent option in terms of actual energy output. Ideally the site should have a minimum average yearly wind speed of at least 5 metres per second with a clear flow of wind.
Wood fuelled heating
A wood fuelled system is a strong option to consider if you have no available access to natural gas as a fuel but you do have plenty of space for both the boiler and fuel storage. Recently more people have been choosing to replace oil or coal based heating systems with a wood fuelled system.
Choosing the right option
In order to choose the most suitable renewable energy technology for your requirements, you need to check your energy bills to find out how much you are actually using. It’s also worth finding out how much you are paying per unit (kWh) of electricity and heating fuel you use. This information will make it easier for you to calculate the savings you can expect by installing a renewable energy system.
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