New to Renewables?

If you are new to renewables, Green Energy Centre Ltd can help give you the full picture of what they are and what they can do for you, as well as information about the finances and important considerations associated each renewable technology.

Cutting down on your household energy consumption is a good thing. It reduces the amount of fossil fuels that need to be burnt, lowering the emissions responsible for climate change, and with Green Energy Centre, it can cut your energy bills by up to 70%.

The most cost-effective way to achieve this largely depends on your house – its size, shape, wall materials, current heating system, exposure to sunlight and wind, and a whole host of other factors. That is why every house needs to be assessed individually, and it is the reason that there is no single "best product" for reducing a home's energy consumption.

The fundamental technologies required to significantly cut your energy consumption are insulation, heat pumps, biomass boilers, solar panels and wind turbines. Most people don't know what they all are, and finding out what each technology does, which one will work best for your home, and how to get it installed isn't always easy. This is where Green Energy Centre comes in.

Through our knowledge of supplying renewable and energy saving technologies, we have been able to identify the main problems people encounter when approaching such a purchase. The new Green Energy Centre has been designed to overcome all of these problems, and will make introducing energy saving solutions to your home a convenient and streamlined process.

An Introduction to Today's Sustainable, Cost Effective Energy-Saving Solutions

Better Insulation

Improving the insulation of your house can decrease your energy consumption significantly, and it can be cheap to do. This should always be the first step to improving your energy efficiency because it means that you will need smaller heating appliances when the time comes to install them, saving you money in the long term.

Heat Pumps

These are appliances that provide water heating or heating for your home (or both), which use similar technology to your fridge. A heat pump can be used to replace or supplement the heating provided by your existing boiler. They require electricity but they are up to six times as efficient as even the best performing gas boilers.

Biomass

This generally means using wood as a fuel source in a purpose built boiler. Wood is a renewable resource and is almost completely carbon neutral (so long as the wood is sustainably sourced), because the carbon released when it is burnt is already offset by the carbon absorbed during its lifetime. This type of system requires some storage space for fuels.

Solar

Solar energy is the energy coming directly from the sun that can be made to heat water (using thermal panels), or to generate electricity (photovoltaic panels, or PV). Solar thermal panels are more efficient at collecting the sun's energy than solar PV panels, but the electricity produced by solar PV panels is more valuable as it can be automatically sold back to the grid when not being used at a considerably higher price than you pay for grid electricity, thanks to the new government Feed In Tariffs which commenced in April 2010.

Wind

A small wind turbine situated on or near your house can generate electricity by conversion of the energy from the wind. Like solar PV, when your electricity consumption is low any excess generated can automatically be sold back to the grid. However, location is critical for a turbine to work effectively.

Government grants are available for each of the above technologies. For more information about this please contact us at lorcan.anglin@greenenergycentre.co.uk