RENEWABLE
ENERGY SUPPLY
| Ground
Source Heat Pump (GSHP) |
Ground source heat pumps are ideally used
to cater for heating demand during winter whereby they collect,
concentrate and distribute geothermal heat. They are a well
established technology, having been used across the world
for many decades. GSHPs have three components - the ground
source or loop that collects the heat, a heat pump that
concentrates the heat, and a heat distribution system. For
detail information on GSHP, please click the following links:
| Air
Source Heat Pump (ASHP) |
These systems have yet to become widely
available for the domestic market and continue to undergo
minor development work. However they are likely to become
commercially viable in the very near future.
They work in the same way as ground source
heat pumps except that the source of the heat is the external
ambient air. As external temperature is more variable than
in the ground, coefficients of performance are likely to
be lower, but so too are installation costs as no trenching
or ground drilling is required.
Systems are often installed on an external
wall, and may give rise to noise issues in high-density
housing developments.
Solar thermal hot water systems are generally
composed of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to
move the heat from the collector to its point of usage,
and a reservoir or tank for heat storage and subsequent
use. The systems may be used to heat hot water or for space
heating.
For private homes, generating heat through
solar energy is the most sensible solution from a self-sufficiency
point of view. Energy for hot water and heating is generated
locally from your roof, without transport costs. The system
is dimensioned according to your hot water requirements
and is determined mainly by the number of collectors on
the roof and the size of the storage cylinder
Detail information can be found in the links below:
Wind turbine is used to harness the kinetic
energy from the wind by converting it to electrical energy.
However the use of wind turbine is very much dependent on
the geographical factor whereby the speed of the wind in
a place might affect the feasibility of having wind turbines
in a community
Wind turbine ranges from various sizes
and capacities. For the domestic use, typical wind turbine
capacity varies from 2kW to 6kW depending on the location
and size of the house.
Detail information can be found in the
links below:
Solar photovoltaic (PV) converts light
into electrical energy and hence, the amount of energy generated
will be very much dependent on the amount of solar radiation
that falls on the PV material. Solar PV connection can be
either grid-connected or stand-alone system.
The orientation of the solar PV plays a
vital role in determining the annual energy yields whereby
south facing solar PV is always considered as the optimal
position. However, the optimal inclination angle varies
from one place to another.
Hence, proper positioning of PV can help to maximize the
output of solar PV.
Detail information can be found in the
links below:
Mini hydro harnesses kinetic energy from
moving water by converting it to electrical energy. The
terms ‘mini’ refers to the capacity that is
under 100Kw while terms ‘small scale’ refers
to capacity of up to 5MW.
The components and mechanism of mini hydro
is similar to that in normal hydro power plant whereby the
moving water rotates the turbine to generate electricity.
Detail information can be found in the links below:
Biomass is a product of organic materials
which can be obtained directly from plants or indirectly
from processed materials. Biomass can be burnt to extract
the heat energy which can be used for heating purposes.
Even though the combustion of biomass emits carbon dioxide,
this is balanced by the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed
by the plants during their life.
For domestic property, the capacity of
biomass heater ranges from 6-12kW, while biomass boiler
are generally larger than 15kW. In some cases, biomass is
also use to generate electricity via biomass CHP.
Detail information can be found in the
links below:
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