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Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which
comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain,
tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable i.e they are
naturally replenished as opposed to fossil fuels which, once
burnt, can never be replaced.
Drayton and Ellis supply heating and venitilation
systems utilising the most common forms of renewable energy
available to homeoweners and small businesses.
 Solar Power or
Solar PV is the
abbreviated name for photovoltaic solar modules (panels).
The term photovoltaic means that the modules generate
electricity when exposed to bright light. Many people think
that solar power is a bit of a joke in the UK, this is not
the case, particularly where solar PV is concerned.
Photovoltaic modules work best in diffused sunlight, so they
are ideal for the UK weather as they are less affected by
overcast conditions, than solar thermal panels,
which really need bright sunlight to achieve their full
potential. If photovoltaic modules get too hot, their
performance will decrease somewhat, though this is not a
major consideration in the UK most of the time.
Because of the
government's need to meet its’ obligations in relation to
cutting carbon emissions, they have introduced Feed In
Tariffs as part of the Micro-generation Certification Scheme
(MCS). For more details on scheme see our
Feed In Tariff
page
 Solar
thermal panels are designed to absorb heat we receive from
the sun in the form of solar radiation and transfer it to
water within a heating or hot water system. These panels are
not to be confused with
solar PV modules,
which generate electricity from solar radiation, please see
our web page about these for more information.
Air source heat pumps are
sometimes called air/water heat pumps, they extract heat from the air and
heat up water.
Ground source heat pumps are
sometimes called brine/air heat pumps, they extract heat from the ground
and heat the water they do not actually use brine, this name comes from
the German word for the heat transfer liquid they use in the ground loop
pipes.
Water source heat pumps are sometimes
called water/water heat pumps and they extract heat from a river or lake
and put it into the heating system water, they are less common and the
systems are generally more complex than air source and ground source heat
pumps.
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