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Skills Training for Green Energy from Able Skills
We are all becoming aware that climate change - caused by the ‘greenhouse effect’ - is a result of the energy we use every day - at home and when we travel. The simple fact is that we are responsible for producing over 40% of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions.
Green energy is probably now one of the single most important issues confronting world resources and how we must make radical changes in the way we make and use fuel and their materials in our everyday lives.
These changes directly apply to all those working in a trade construction industry, i.e. Plumbers, Electricians, Gas Installers and Builders. Skills training for the installation of energy efficient forms of heating and lighting are going to be a very necessary and vital part of a trainee student course.
Able Skills - in conjunction with NICEIC, BPEC, CITB and City & Guilds – are helping to lead the way and have opened an Energy Saving Training Centre to provide the necessary approved training.
Energy suppliers are obliged to encourage people to use energy more efficiently by helping with the supply and costs of installation of energy saving measures and providing advice on energy efficiency.
With some simple energy saving home improvements, you can save money, improve the comfort of your home and help fight climate change.
An energy efficient house makes sense. It's cheaper to run and it could be a key selling point if you choose to sell your house.
Training to change the way we live……..
Able Skills is in a position to provide Nationally accredited training in various aspects of
- Renewable Energy
- Efficient Heating Systems
- Sustainable Energy
- Water Saving Solutions.
We have invested heavily in our Renewable Training Centre and have spared no expense. We have the very latest in training rigs and training aids and have secured support from a number of businesses who have pledged to provide an ongoing support service to our customers. The Centre is set up to demonstrate every aspect of renewable technology, including:
Ground Source Heat Pumps
Ground source heat provides a new and clean way of heating buildings in the UK, they use pipes buried in the garden to extract heat stored in the ground, providing one of the most energy-efficient ways of heating buildings. Beneath the surface, the ground stays at a constant temperature, so a ground source heat pump can be used throughout the year - even in the middle of winter. This is usually used to warm water for radiators or underfloor heating systems. It can also be used to pre-heat water before it goes into a more conventional boiler. The only energy used by Ground Source Heat Pump systems is electricity to power the pumps. Typically, a Ground Source Heat Pump will deliver 3 or 4 times as much thermal energy (heat) as is used in electrical energy to drive the system.
Reduce your CO2 emissions: on average a ground source heat pump could save around 1.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year when replacing an oil boiler.
Eliminate your fuel bills: ground source heat pumps run on electricity, so there's no need to pay for gas, oil or solid fuels to heat your home.
Cut down on wasted electricity: heating your home with a ground source heat pump is much more efficient than using electric radiators.
Air Source Heat Pumps
Air Source Heat Pumps absorb heat from the outside air. This heat can then be used to warm water for radiators or underfloor heating systems, or to warm the air in your home. These systems use similar principles to ground source heat pumps to extract heat from air or water instead of the ground. Air source heat pumps can be fitted outside a house or in the roof space and generally perform better at slightly warmer air temperatures. Water source heat pumps can be used to provide heating in homes near to rivers, streams and lakes. It can extract heat from the air even when the outside temperature is as low as minus 15° C.
Reduce your fuel bills: air source heat pumps run on electricity, so there's no need to pay for gas, oil or solid fuels to heat your home.
Cut down on wasted electricity: heating your home with an air source heat pump is much more efficient than using electric radiators.
Save space: an air source heat pump system is compact, and requires no storage space for fuel.
Biomass
Biomass is a renewable, low carbon fuel that is already widely, and often economically available throughout the UK and its production and use also brings additional environmental and social benefits. Correctly managed, biomass is a sustainable fuel that can deliver a significant reduction in net carbon emissions when compared with fossil fuels and Biomass can be sourced locally from within the UK. There is no region in the UK that cannot be a producer of biomass, although some have greater productivities than others.
There are two main ways of using wood fuel to heat a domestic property:
- Stand-alone stoves providing space heating for a single room. These can be fuelled by logs or pellets but only pellets are suitable for automatic feed. Generally they are 5-11 kW in output, and some models can be fitted with a back boiler to provide water heating.
- Boilers connected to central heating and hot water systems. These are suitable for pellets, logs or chips, and are generally larger than 15 kW.
The most popular use of biomass domestically is in wood burning stoves, systems which generally burn wood pellets, chips or logs to power central heating and hot water boilers or to provide warmth in a single room.
Modern biomass combustion systems are highly sophisticated, offering combustion efficiency and emission levels comparable with the best fossil fuel boilers.
Underfloor Hot Water Heating Systems
Underfloor warm water systems work by circulating warm water from the boiler through the floor in continuous lengths of pipe warming the entire floor area making this a large low temperature storage radiator. This room is controlled by an independent room thermostat.
Underfloor heating uses radiant heat ensuring that you feel comfortable even at a lower air temperature than that produced by a more conventional heating system. With underfloor heating all the floor is heated so no matter where you are in the room its all the same temperature. The heat rises and surrounds you unlike traditional heating systems like radiator rises to the ceiling and slowly works its way down leaving one side of the room where your radiator is hot and the opposite side cool, this also means you have a warm head and cold feet.
Solar Thermal
For domestic hot water there are three main components: solar panels, a heat transfersystem, and a hot water cylinder.
Solar water heating systems use heat from the sun to warm domestic hot water. Solar panels, called collectors, are fitted to a roof and these collect heat from the sun. The heat transfer system uses the collected heat to warm water and a hot water cylinder stores the hot water that is heated during the day and supplies it for use later. A conventional boiler or immersion heater is then used to make the water hotter, or to provide hot water when solar energy is unavailable.
Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater Harvesting systems are designed to store large amounts of rain water that fall on your roof everyday; the water is filtered and then recycled for household and commercial use such as toilet flushing, clothes washing, cleaning vehicles and watering the garden.
The domestic systems typically enable the user to reduce their main water usage by up to 50% whilst commercial systems stand to save even more due to the typically large roof size and high demand for non-potable water.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV)
Solar photovoltaic – or PV – is probably one of the most familiar types of renewable energy technology, generating electricity from light which can either be stored in batteries or fed into the national grid. PV solar panels consist of a collection of photo-electric cells, made up from one or two semi-conductor layers – typically silicon. When light shines on the solar panel, an electric field is formed across these layers – and the electricity flows.
Wind Turbine
Wind turbines take the power of the wind and use it to generate electricity. Small systems known as "microwind" or "small-wind" turbines can produce electricity to help power the lights and electrical appliances in a typical home. Wind turbines use large blades to catch the wind. When the wind blows the blades are forced round, driving a turbine which generates electricity. The stronger the wind, the more electricity produced.
There are two types of domestic-sized wind turbine:
- Mast mounted: these are free standing and are erected in a suitably exposed position, often around 2.5kW to 6kW
- Roof mounted: these are smaller than mast mounted systems and can be installed on the roof of a home where there is a suitable wind resource. Often these are around 1kW to 2kW in size.
If your small wind system is connected to the National Grid then you can make money by selling any generated electricity to an electricity supply company. If the turbine is not connected to the electricity grid then unused electricity can be stored in a battery for use when there is no wind.
Please visit the relevant pages of each technology to gather full details of each course, the cost and the duration.
To Book or for more information please freephone our booking line on 0808 100 3245.
Courses are held Monday to Friday. All Course Times are: 08.30am-16.30pm.
