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Seven steps for servicing your solar thermal system
[view entry]Renewable Heat Incentive is welcomed by industry
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YouGen Blog
How much of my hot water can I get from the sun?
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 13th December 2008 at 9:01 am
Have you ever wondered how much energy falls on your roof each year? Well probably not, but it is really quite interesting. The average UK house with a south facing roof of 30m² will be exposed to around 30,000KwH of the sun’s radiation every year. When you compare that to the amount of ener…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Getting the best out of solar panels
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 16th December 2008 at 4:20 pm
Get a few people with solar panels together (as happened this weekend) and inevitably there's discussion about how to get the most out of your solar thermal system. This is probably because the amount of hot water generated by solar thermal systems is dependent on how we use the system (as was confi…
Posted in: Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water
Creating the green dream
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 16th February 2009 at 9:28 am
Converting your house to low-carbon luxury doesn’t come without a lot of hard work, and vast quantities of attention to detail. Last week I wrote about what Sue Harley and Neil Tappenden achieved in turning their Devon farmhouse into a low-carbon dream home. This week I look at how they did it, an…
Posted in: Energy efficiency, Biomass, Solar heat & hot water
Is bigger better?
Posted by Barry Nutley on 11th February 2009 at 9:38 am
Renewable energy can be a little confusing. For example, explaining to some people that doubling the size of a solar thermal system isn't necessarily a good thing, but doubling the size of a solar PV system is; doubling the size of a heat pump isn't a good idea, but doubling the size of a wind turbi…
Posted in: Rainwater harvesting
Good Energy rewards renewable heat generators
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 3rd February 2009 at 10:42 am
Solar thermal panels to heat your water just got more attractive with the launch of Good Energy's renewable heat incentive, or HotROC, contract. This means that customers who generate heat or hot water from renewable sources are paid for the energy they create. This is a first step towards putting t…
Posted in: Biomass, Combined heat & power, Solar heat & hot water
Evacuated tubes: make sure you don’t get burnt
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 4th February 2009 at 8:34 am
Evacuated tube collectors are the Formula One of the solar thermal world. They are more efficient than other types of collector as they are almost perfectly insulated, and heat cannot pass through a vacuum. As the tubes are cylindrical, they are always perpendicular to the sun reducing the amount of…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Renewable energy grants still available
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 15th January 2009 at 9:23 am
Homeowners who want to install energy generating equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines or biomass boilers will be able to apply for grants until June 2010. It is anticipated that a feed-in tariff should be in place by then, which will incentivise homeowners and communities to invest in micro…
Posted in: General
Calculators shed light on renewable choices
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 25th March 2009 at 11:16 am
Comparing costs of different renewable technologies and working out potential savings in cash and carbon has just got a whole lot easier. Encraft has developed a range of calculators that help you work out all the figures, so that you can see what's best for your house much more easily. Anyone can u…
Posted in: General, Energy efficiency, Biomass, Heat pumps, Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water, Wind turbines
Planning for solar panels
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 6th March 2009 at 11:59 am
Living in a listed building or conservation area doesn't mean that you can't have solar panels, as Anne Robbins' experience shows. You may, however, need determination and energy, and money for an appeal, if you want to leap over all the planning hurdles. Anne lives in a conservation area in Gre…
Posted in: General, Solar heat & hot water
How to store heat in a thermal store
Posted by Gordon Traill on 30th January 2009 at 11:48 am
Only a serious biomass nerd can get excited about thermal stores. Sadly, I count myself as one of those people. First of all what is a thermal store and what does it do? Essentially it’s a large water tank (usually round) which is well insulated with a series of bosses to connect pipes to.…
Posted in: Biomass, Solar heat & hot water
Solar thermal for space heating
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 21st May 2009 at 10:23 am
I am often asked whether a solar thermal system can be used for space heating as well as for hot water. Technically, it can. However in most cases it is neither cost effective nor energy efficient to do so. The cost of upgrading the system to work with space heating as well as hot w…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Can I have a solar thermal system if I have a combi-boiler?
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 1st July 2009 at 9:55 am
There are two ways of installing a solar thermal system with a combination boiler. In both cases you will need a new hot water cylinder. This can often be the biggest problem as in most cases where a combi-boiler is installed, there is no room for a cylinder The design of the system will depend …
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Welsh ease planning rules for renewable energy
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 12th August 2009 at 9:40 am
Welsh planning rules for domestic renewable energy installations have been changed to make it easier for homeowners to generate their own heat and electricity. Following Scotland's lead, the Welsh Assembly has announced new regulations which mean that some microgeneration technologies will no lon…
Posted in: General, Biomass, Combined heat & power, Heat pumps, Hydro electricity, Rainwater harvesting, Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water, Wind turbines
Controlling solar thermal systems
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 10th September 2009 at 9:43 am
The controllers used in solar thermal systems come in many different shapes and sizes and offer a variety of different options. The most basic controllers just have a differential control - this activates the solar pump when the temperature at the sensor on the collector is at a higher temperature t…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
YouGen Energy Expert wins installer of the year
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 23rd November 2009 at 9:13 am
Congratulations to everyone at SunGift Solar which has won Installer of the Year in RegenSW's Green Energy Awards. Company founder Gabriel Wandrausch is one of YouGen's volunteer Energy Experts, contributing articles on solar hot water to the YouGen blog. SunGift Solar, which started as a solar t…
Posted in: General, Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water
Renewable heat soon to join the energy revolution
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 6th November 2009 at 9:13 am
Until a few months ago, solar thermal hot water heating has been the most cost effective way for people to generate their own renewable energy - for every pound invested it has usually delivered the highest units of energy. The reason for this is that solar thermal systems have always been the most…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
What is the best solar hot water panel for a small space?
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 31st July 2009 at 8:47 am
Question from YouGen user: I have a 7 year old Solartwin panel on my roof which I believe is performing poorly and is not metered. The company say that the harder water is likely to be too much for the panel and that it needs an indirect panel. Thus I feel I need to replace it. It is a landscape sha…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Renewable Heat Incentive is welcomed by industry
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 17th March 2010 at 10:42 am
Ambitious and far-reaching were just some of the words delegates used to welcome the Renewable Heat Incentive proposals at yesterday's consultation event organised by RegenSW. However, they said that more education about renewable heat is needed if the Renewable Heat Incentive is going to succeed in…
Posted in: General, Biomass, Heat pumps, Solar heat & hot water
Prices vary hugely between renewable energy installers
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 27th November 2009 at 11:17 am
Prices for renewable energy installations vary wildly, making buying decisions difficult for homeowners, according to Power from the People, a new study by researchers at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute. In addition, there is little correlation between price and the generation …
Posted in: General, Biomass, Heat pumps, Rainwater harvesting, Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water, Wind turbines
Seven steps for servicing your solar thermal system
Posted by Paul Hutchens on 19th March 2010 at 10:09 am
How to service a solar thermal system is a really common question asked by many of our customers and prospective customers. Unfortunately there isn't really a definitive answer. It depends on how technically minded you are and how much peace of mind you need. So here are some guidelines: 1. Solar…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
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