This section of the website contains the workflow for each renewable technolgy, and details the steps required to determine a technolgies suitability per site.
Each list item will expand when they are clicked upon and when clicked again they will collpase.
To determine a sites suitability for the use of a PV Panels to provide electricity please visit the proposed site and complete the biomass boiler site analysis document. This document can be obtained by clicking on the following link Download PV Panel Site Analysis Spreadsheet.
The determination of the number of panels is carried out by calculating the total roof area available for installation of panels. This can be calculated by using an online mapping tool. Please click on the following link to open the free map tool Free map tool.
The orientation of the roofs can be calculated by using Google Earth. NW and NE orientations of the roof are dropped to avoid low efficiencies of the system. Once the selection of roofs is done, the determination of the inclination of the panels is necessary. It can be done by considering standard constructions inclinations for roof in the country or Google street view approximation. Google street view can also be used for the determination of PV panel shading Please click on the following link to open Google maps from which you can change the view to street view Google maps.
To calculate the total energy demanded by the dwellings please download HEM by clicking on the following link Download HEM.
This demand needs to be compared with the energy output by the panels for determination of match; this function is carried out by the software MERIT. Please download MERIT by clicking on the following link Download MERIT. Iterative analysis must be developed for different number of panels per house in order to obtain the correct match.
The financial analysis is carried out considering the total energy output and the match. The PV Panel Site Analysis Spreadsheet linked above provides some financial analysis in the form of a report which includes an estimate of the capital cost, application of any grants and loans and operation costs such as maintenance and insurance. It calculates the payback period for the plant and displays in tabular form the project cash flows, net present value and the net annual savings.
Grants are available for the installation of PV Panels as detailed in the following webpage Government Grants UK. Please click on the following link to check current government grants check current government grants.
Wind Turbines are a renewable source of energy providing electricity from wind.
To determine a sites suitability for the use of Wind Turbines to provide electricity please visit the proposed site and complete the wind turbines site analysis document. This document can be obtained by clicking on the following link Download Wind Site Analysis Spreadsheet
The key criteria for the installation of wind turbines in a determined area is the wind speed, which calculation can be easily obtained by introducing the post code of the area in the linked website Wind Speed Calculator Open wind speed database.
The determination of the number of turbines is restricted by the area and the noise limits in the residential area. The total area selected depends on the maximum noise that can be calculated by using an online tool Noise Tool Open Noise Tool .
The determination of the number of turbines is carried out by calculating the total roof area available for installation and restrictions due to noises. This can be calculated by using an online mapping tool. Please click on the following link to open the free map tool Free map tool.
To calculate the total energy demanded by the dwellings please download HEM by clicking on the following link Download HEM.
This demand needs to be compared with the energy output by the turbines for determination of match; this function is carried out by the software MERIT, Download MERIT.
The financial analysis is carried out considering the total energy output and the match. The Wind Site Analysis Spreadsheet which is linked above provides some financial analysis in the form of a report which includes an estimate of the capital cost, application of any grants and loans and operation costs such as maintenance and insurance. It calculates the payback period for the plant and displays in tabular form the project cash flows, net present value and the net annual savings.
Grants are available for the installation of Small Scale Wind turbines as detailed in the following webpage Government Grants UK. Please click on the following link to check current government grants check current government grants.
The main factors affecting the implementation of Wind turbines in terms of Social and Environmental Feasibility are the visual impact of the turbines and mainly the noises produced by the generator of the turbines.
This specific process was designed in order to gain a preliminary idea on the applicability of Ground Source Heat Pumps to a particular site.
This process deals with GSHP systems with horizontal closed loop heat exchanger design for heating systems in residential dwellings only.
The application has been limited to Scotland. The softwares chosen are specific to Scotland except for RETScreen which has international databases.
The first process is the selection of the site where the study needs to be carried out. The site can be viewed using Google earth. With the location can be obtained by providing a post code, using latitude and longitude or UTM data. The houses within the development under study need to be defined. It is helpful to number them.
The first screening criteria is the availability of space. This is calculated based on some preliminary criteria. These are detailed on the GSHP preliminary criteria worksheet provided in the following link Download GSHP Criteria.
The dwelling heat loss in Watts per square metre of heated floor area can be obtained using HEM. The utilization of this is explained in the worksheet above.
As a general concept, an area equal to the footprint of the house needs to be available as a minimum in the case of single storey dwellings. This area required increases with the number of storeys. However, this concept helps in the quick visual identification of potential sites using Google earth.
The space that belongs to within a property is first considered to avoid any legal hurdles and other possible opposition to the implementation. Common communal space may be considered if the above screening process does not yield any favourable options.
To create the Demand Model two steps need to be undertaken. The first step is to characterize the heat loading behaviour of the dwellings. In order to do this the total heated floor area of the building needs to be calculated. This can be calculated by using an online mapping tool. Please click on the following link to open the free map tool Free map tool.
Google street view can be utilized to determine the number of storeys in a dwelling. Please click on the following link to open Google maps from which you can change the view to street view Google maps.
Effective heated floor area = Footprint area calculated via map tools x number of storeys of dwelling.
The second step to create the Demand Model is to determine the heat loss in W/m ² or equivalent units. This can be done in two ways:
Method 1: Utility bills that demarcate the energy use for heating.
The most accurate method to obtain the quantity of heat demand at a site is to refer to the utility bills (except when electricity is used for direct heating as it may be not differentiable on the utility bill).Therefore if the utility bills reveal that a total of 'x' kWh is required every year for heating, this value can be deducted by the total floor area of a house to provide the kWh/m² /year energy demand. This can then be divided by the number of hours in a year and a conversion factor from kW to W to yield a result that expresses the average heat load throughout the year in terms of W/m²
If natural gas is currently providing the heating for the house.
1. The appropriate calorific value is applied to obtain the kWh from the fuel bills. No. Of kWh heat from gas = no. Of units of gas consumed x calorific value per unit
Let us say the obtained value is for heating is 30000 kWh / year.
2. Average energy demand / m² / year = heating demand per year / heated floor area If the calculated heated floor area from free map tools and corrected for number of storeys is 100 m2, then average energy demand / m² / yr = 30000 / 100 = 300 kWh / m² / year.
3. Average heat loss from building is 'x' kWh per m² per year / 8760 hrs per year x 1000. Eg. Average heat loss from building = 300 kWh per m² per year / 8760 * 1000 = 34.24 W/m².
Method 2: HEM model to approximate the heating demand.
The second method that can be followed is to define the dwelling model with HEM and extract the values for heating demand per m² per year. Repeat step 3 above for this value to obtain the W / m² characteristic of a dwelling.
To calculate the total energy demanded by the dwellings please download HEM by clicking on the following link Download HEM.
The tool used for GSHP analysis is RETScreen which can be downloaded by clicking on the following link Download RETScreen, also available is a tutorial which can be viewed by clicking on the following link View RETScreen Tutorial.
RETScreen uses an integrated approach. The energy model inclusive of load matching can be setup suitably with RETScreen. Predefined databases within RETScreen establish the heating requirements. The software can either predict the heating requirement based on the the heating load in W/m² that provided to it. Alternatively, actual utility bills can be entered. What follows is an iterative process where the assessor determines the cost vs benefit.
Detailed in the linked image below is a graph that details the heat demand load against the fraction of annual time. Even though the peak load is near 16 kW, the system can still be rated at 10kW and provide energy for nearly 92% of the years energy requirements. Hence the sizing is vital as the cost of the ground heat exchanger increases without much benefit. Auxiliary heating systems may prove far more effective in this regard. View Graph.
Linked below is a sheet that can be used to get a rough idea of the values that need to be iterated for when using RETScreen. The demand profile used is extracted from the MERIT source code for 3 bedroom thermal heat load profile and is scaled according to the actual energy use. The average thermal load and the heat pump capacity determine the ground heat exchanger final design. Download Thermal Demand Profile.
RETScreen provides financial analysis. It also calculates the payback period for the plant and displays in tabular form the yearly cash flows, internal rate of return, net present value and the net annual savings.
Grants are available for the installation of GSHP as detailed on the following webpage View energy savings trust. Details of the renewable heat incentive can also be obtained via this link.
RETScreen provides a green house gas analysis inbuilt into the software that details the key environmental indices.
Biomass boilers are an alternate method of producing hot water for heating homes as well as providing domestic hot water.
To determine a sites suitability for the use of a biomass boiler to provide heating and hot water please visit the proposed site and complete the biomass boiler site analysis document. This document can be obtained by clicking on the following link Download Biomass Boiler Site Analysis Spreadsheet
A key criteria for the technical feasibility of silting a biomass boiler is whether there is a suitable piece of land in which to site the boiler plant. This can be calculated by using an online mapping tool to determine the area of a piece of suitable land. Please click on the following link to open the free map tool Free map tool.
To calculate the size of the biomass boiler required to provide heating for the site please click on the following link where a biomass boiler sizing tool and user manual can be downloaded Download Biomass Boiler Sizing Tool and User Manual. The biomass boiler tool has been developed by the Carobon Trust and as outlined in the manual they advise that users keep the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) values updated. This can be achieved by visiting the following website Check Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
As well as sizing the biomass boiler for the demand it needs to meet it also has to be sized to the avialbel room in which it can be situated near the hosuign site. If there is not enough room in which to place the boiler to meet 100% of the heating demand.
Grants are available for the installation of biomass boilers as detailed in the following webpage Biomass Energy Centre information on grants.
The biomass boiler sizing tool also provides some financial analysis in the form of a report which includes an estimate of the capital cost, application of any grants and loans and operation costs such as maintenance and insurance. The report also calculates the payback period for the plant and displays in tabular form the project cash flows, internal rate of return, net present value and the net annual savings.
The social aspects of the biomass boiler relate to residents willingness for the installation of biomass boiler technologies, in particular their willingness for the installation of a district heating network. (DHN). Another factor which needs to be considered is the emissions from the biomass boiler which is also an environmental factor. The biomass boiler sizing tool provides information on the CO2 emissions of the boiler system and CO2 savings when compared to a chosen reference boiler.
Crops grown for the purposes of producing biomass are called energy crops and one of the most popular energy crops are short rotation energy crops, specifically short rotation coppice (SRC).
To determine a sites suitability for the growing of biomass the first step is to determine the area available to plant the crop. This can be calculated by using an online mapping tool to determine the potential size of the crop area. Please click on the following link to open the free map tool Free map tool.
Once the crop area is known the cropping estimator spreadsheet which is linked below can be used to calculate the financial potential of the crop Cropping Estimator Spreadsheet.
Arboricultural arisings is biomass which is obtained from tree maintenance.
A wooded sites area can be calculated by using an online mapping tool. Please click on the following link to open the free map tool Free map tool.
Once the area of the wooded site is known the wood fuel potential of the site can be calculated using the tool available from the following link Download estimating woodfuel potential - measurement protocol.
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