Green energy options for homes

Green energy options for homes

Green energy options for homes

Did you know that 31% of all energy used in the UK is from our homes? Splitting it down there is 60% used for heating, 25% used for hot water and 13% for lighting and electrical appliances. We are all aware that energy is costing more and more and the trend seems set to stay. We can sit back and pay the gas and electric companies a small fortune, making those fat bosses even fatter or we can find ways of reducing our bills or switching fuel. Quite often finding a greener energy will save you money in the long run as well as save the environment as your CO2 emissions will be reduced.

There are plenty of green energy options which builders of new homes should be installing. There are building materials that store heat which should be being used widespread. Every builder should be aware of passive solar renewable energy. This is where a home is designed in such a way that it collects the suns warmth. This is far from a modern idea as it has been used by the early Greeks and Romans years ago. Large glass windows or south facing conservatories can exploit large amounts of free energy which without being harnessed is a serious waste. If you create more energy than you need it can be sold to the National Grid.

The most widely known and fastest growing is solar energy where homes use solar panels to channel the suns energy to create electricity and heat for our homes. The panels these days are far more advanced than previous solar panels. Obviously it your home needs to be south facing to be the most benefit from solar energy. You might think that you need to be in a hot country to really benefit but that isn't the case. Sun still comes through on a cloudy day even though we can't see it. SO just because its cloudy for days doesn't mean it won't work.

Getting an energy efficient boiler in your home will see your fuel bills dramatically reduced. With conventional boilers the flue gases are waste and exit at 250-300C. With a condensing boiler it uses its extra heat exchanger to reduce the temperature of flue gasses down to 50-60C which is the correct temperature to create steam which then condenses to water giving up large amounts of latent heat. You will find condensing boilers are 300 - 400 more expensive than conventional designs but they are far more efficient. Compared to conventional boilers which have a maximum efficiency of about 80%, condensing boilers efficiency can be as high as 95%. You will find the saving on fuel will pay back the additional boiler cost in less than 4 years.

Heat pump technology is the same used to keep a refrigerator cool. The same type of system but in reverse can be used to create heat for our homes. An air source heat pump works by taking air from outside and with a heat pump heats the water to provide hot water. Some systems use large fans to exchange heat with the air.

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