Rethinking household energy provision – bringing energy into your own greener hands.

Where our energy comes from has a big impact, and to reach a Zero Carbon Britain it needs a major rethink. If you’d like to learn how to install renewables in a domestic setting, but are unsure how, what options to go for, and what the likely costs and benefits are, this course will give you a broad overview get you started.

Key Information

• Duration: two days
• Upcoming dates: Sat 1 – Sun 2 May 2021
• Includes: tuition, all materials, full board accommodation

Course content

Covering the basics of wind, solar PV, solar thermal, biomass and heat pumps, the course will enable you to identify which renewable technologies are best suited to different needs.

You will be guided in how to construct a household energy profile, and how to modify it to suit your available energy provision. We will look at the important points of technology selection and use, including options for energy storage. You will also learn where to find relevant data, how to analyse the data and take account of seasonal variations.

Topics covered include:

• Power and energy demand profiling
• Site assessment and technology selection strategy
• Accessing resource data
• Hybrid systems
• Basic frequency analysis and output modelling
• System basics for wind/solar/biomass/heat pumps
• Understanding the process of technology selection
• Energy storage and battery basics

A basic knowledge of MS Excel (or equivalent) is desirable for this course.

Follow on courses

This is the first in a series of monthly courses exploring renewable energy technologies. This first weekend course gives an overview of several renewables, followed by five one day courses providing in-depth information on a specific renewable. As a series these courses will equip you with the skills and knowledge to implement different renewable technologies in domestic settings, however they can also be taken as stand-alone courses.

• Introduction to Renewables for Households – Saturday 1–Sun 2 May 2021
• Renewables for Households: solar PV – Saturday 22 May 2021
• Renewables for Households: wind turbines – Saturday 19 June 2021
• Renewables for Households: solar hot water – Saturday 17 July 2021
• Renewables for Households: heat pumps – Saturday 28 August 2021

Tutor Profile

Alan is a Charted Energy Engineer and lecturer on our postgraduate courses here at CAT. His research ranges from numerical modelling of sustainable energy systems and resources in Europe, to developing international sustainable energy policy and strategy in post-conflict/post-disaster areas of South East Asia.

To find out more and book a place visit – www.cat.org.uk/events/introduction-to-household-renewables