Renewable Energy Options for Home

For homeowners, the most practical renewable energy options relate to space heating and domestic hot water which account for over 70% of household energy consumption.

Renewable Energy Options for the Homeowner

• Passive solar design. Anyone building a new home should make use of passive solar design principles, which can be incorporated at no extra cost while bringing substantial benefits in energy savings and comfort. Passive solar design uses the energy freely available from the sun to provideheating andlighting in buildings. Just by facing a house south to capture the maximum sunlight, energy bills can be reduced by ten percent. With additional measures this saving can be trebled. Passive solar designed houses can look like conventional houses and need cost no extra to build than similar houses that have ignored the solar principles.
  
  
• Passive ventilation and cooling. Passive ventilation and cooling techniques, an extension of passive solar design, help to eliminate the requirement for wasteful artificial ventilation and cooling.
  
  
• Wood fuel. Using wood fuel to heat our homes is also a sustainable choice. Wood is 'CO2neutral', absorbing as much CO2 when it grows as is released when it burns, and takes just 5-20 years to grow. Modern, highly efficient stoves and fireplace inserts make wood fuel a far more practical option for today's lifestyle. Using wood fuel instead of peat and coal makes a positive contribution to the environment. Burning fossil fuels releases the global warming gas carbon dioxide, as well as other damaging pollutants. Wood, on the other hand, is 'CO2 neutral'. It absorbs as much CO2 when it grows as is released when it burns - a virtuous natural cycle. Wood fuel takes just 5-20 years to grow, whereas peat and coal were formed over hundreds of thousands of years. Modern, highly efficient stoves and fireplace inserts make wood fuel a far more practical option for today's lifestyle.
  
  
• Heat pumps. Ground source heat pumps, which collect heat from solar energy stored in the ground, are an excellent energy source for underfloor heating in particular. These systems use a small amount of electricity to coax a much larger amount of heat from the ground. Installation costs are similar to those of a conventional heating system; running costs are much lower.
  
  
• Solar panels. Active solar heating systems can provide economical hot water and space heating. This is a well-established technology, commercially available across Europe and equipment costs are falling all the time.