Introduction to Renewables for Households

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 install renewables in your home, but are unsure how, what option to go for, and what the likely costs and benefits are, this course will give you a broad overview to help you make your decision.

Key information

Duration: one day
Upcoming date: Saturday 14th September 2024
Start and finish times: starts at 9:30am and ends at 3.30pm
Fee: £125
Includes: tuition, buffet lunch.
What to bring: waterproof clothing is recommended
Terms and Conditions:
- You must be 18 years or over to attend our courses.
- For full list of terms and conditions click here

What you will learn

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 your 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 course is the introduction to a series of in-depth practical one day courses exploring different renewable energy technologies. As a series these courses will equip you with the skills and knowledge to implement different renewable technologies in your home, however they can also be taken as standalone courses.

Meet your tutor

Alan is a Chartered 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.