Generate your own energy

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	Generate your own energy with micro-renewables

	If you’re thinking about investing in a wind turbine, a solar panel or another micro-renewable technology, make sure you’ve limited your demand for energy first! If you have a well insulated home and have reduced your demand for energy, you may be able to reduce your home’s CO2 emissions if you add micro-renewables. There are grants to help make installation more affordable, for each of the technologies shown below. All of them are second systems — you’ll still need another source of heating or electricity. One or more of the technologies may be practical or worthwhile for your or your home. These are the ideal conditions for each technology:




	Grants

	Scottish Community Household Renewables Initiative: www.est.org.uk/schri select ‘Household renewables’ 0845 120 7799 Low Carbon Buildings Programme. Grants for PV: www.lowcarbon buildings.org.uk 0800 915 0990

Technology	What it does	Ideal for
Solar thermal	Collects the sun’s energy and transfers the heat from a rooftop collector to a hot water cylinder.	Roof space facing south west — south — south east, not overshadowed by buildings or trees. People who use most hot water during the day and evening, not the morning. If you have the roof tiles repaired or replaced, think about having solar panels installed at the same time.
PVs (Photovoltaics)	Uses the sun’s energy to generate electricity.	Roof space facing south west — south — south east, not overshadowed by buildings or trees. People who are at home during the day and who use electricity carefully.
PVs aren’t just used on rooftops - solar powered shed and garden lights take energy from sunlight to charge the lamps for night time.
Heat pump	Collects low-level heat from the ground, water, or air and raises it to a useful temperature, using electricity very efficiently.	Homes in an area with no gas supply that are currently heated with electricity, oil or liquid petroleum gas. Homes with space to dig a trench or bore hole (ground source), or permanent nearby water such as a dock or old mine working (water source); air source heat pumps usually need a small hard-standing area, but some types can be fitted inside the house. Projects when a new ground floor's being laid - ground and water source heat pumps work best with underfloor heating.
Wind turbine	Uses wind energy to generate electricity.	Roof or gable wall in an exposed place, where air movements aren’t disrupted by other buildings. People who use electricity carefully.
Micro-hydro	Uses flowing water to generate electricity.	Homes with a reliable source of flowing water on their own land, close to the house. People who use electricity carefully.

There’s a lot of talk about micro-renewables saving 10% or 20% of energy demand — but 10% of wasteful energy demand is just further waste! The first thing is to reduce your use of energy for heating by insulation and by not wasting electricity.

For instance, a ground source heat pump in a large uninsulated house might provide 60% of space heating, but 100% if the same house was insulated to modern standards. A 1m² PV panel might produce 400 Watts a day, but that’s probably only the amount you would save by not leaving the TV and DVD player on standby for 15 hours.

Check with the local Planning department before installing any of these micro-renewables — you may need planning permission.




	Scottish Executive: ‘Planning for Micro Renewables: Annex to PAN 45 Renewable Energy Technologies’ Energy Savings Trust: ‘Generate your own energy’

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