Renewable Energy FAQ
Over the years, our engineers have collated a few typical questions about renewable energy technologies. This is a summary of the most relevant issues discused.
How Long Does it Take to Install a Solar Thermal System? How Much Does it Cost?
Typically a solar thermal system can be installed within approximately 2 days. This, naturally, will vary depending on the type of property, the type of roof etc. During the installation the engineer takes special care to ensure that there is minimum disruption and the supply of hot water is typically up and running within a few hours, to that the normal household routine is not disturbed.
As explained above, installations vary in price due to different circumstances such as roof complexity, loft access etc. As a general guide, a typical installation for an existing 3-4 bedroom house should cost £3,500-5,000. For more information about Solar Water Heating, visit out Solar Thermal Introduction.
Is There Enough Sun in the UK? What Percentage of My Hot Water will Come from the Solar System?
Although it feels mostly grey and overcast, the UK receives slightly more than half of the solar energy received at the equator and around 65% of the sun that Spain gets. This is absolutely enough to operate a solar water heating system.
A good solar water heating system should be able to provide 50% - 60% of your annual domestic hot water requirements. This means that in the summer the solar system will provide 90-100% of your hot water needs, and in the winter it will save energy by primarily pre-heating your water and giving the boiler less “work” to do, thus conserving energy, prolonging the life of the boiler and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Quality systems work by absorbing diffused light and converting it into heat. In other words, even on a cloudy winter day the diffused light will preheat the water in the cylinder and provide major savings. If necessary, your backup system (e.g. your boiler) will up-heat the water from the already warm temperature to your preferred temperature (for example to 60c). On long summer days, the length of exposure to the diffused light is a major advantage. Even if the sky is overcast, the fact that the days are so long helps heat the water to very good levels. For more information about Solar Water Heating, visit out paper on Solar Thermal Technologies.
How Does Ground Source Heat Pump Work? Is It Cost Effective?
Ground source heat pumps (GSHP) are a very effective heating system, providing high efficiency solution for space and water heating. By burying a looped pipe underground, the ground source heat pipe extracts the temperature from underground and raises it in a process that resembles a reverse air conditioning process.
At depths of about 10m underground the temperature is constant, at 10-14c year round. The heat pump uses this initially temperature and via a refrigerant cycle ramps up the heat out put temperature up to 55c.
Ground source heat pumps work best with low heat space heating systems such as under floor heating, and offer very high efficiency rate of 300-400%. Furthermore, because of their high efficiency, heat pumps are significantly better than fossil fuel boilers when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions. For more information about Ground Source Heat Pumps, visit out Ground Source Heat Pumps Introduction paper.
This page has been written with contributions from plumbing and heating engineers from Kent and heating engineers from Tonbridge. Several of the company's experienced plumbers from Surrey have worked on similar issues as well as some of our plumbers from Chelsea and our Edgware experienced heating engineers.
