At Cornish Renewable Energy, we have a strong belief in the technologies which we install. I have installed Solar thermal, Solar PV and an Air Source heat pump into my own property. Living with and using these technologies enables us to learn from real world ‘day to day’ experience. This enables us to give in-depth advice on the installation, and use of these exciting technologies.
Cornish Renewable Energy specialise in the installation of both Air and Ground Source Heat Pumps (ASHP / GSHP for space heating and hot water production), Solar Thermal (for hot water production) , Solar Photo Voltaic (PV for the production of electricity) and Rain water harvesting (harvested water is used to flush toilets, for outside taps and for washing machines).
With our background in heating design and installation, we can offer a complete service from the fitment of a heat pump in conjunction with solar Thermal or PV, to the complete installation of a new heating / hot water system.
If you would like to contact us for a free quotation, please either telephone or email. We endeavour to answer telephone calls between 8am and 5pm. If you do not get an answer please leave your details and someone will contact you as quickly as possible.
Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) absorb latent heat from the air around them. This energy can then be used to heat your hot water, radiators and under floor heating. Even outside air temperatures below freezing are full of energy.
As the heat source – air – is freely available, ASHPs are very flexible as to the location in which they can be installed. They can be retro fitted, or installed as part of a new build project.
ASHPs work using a similar principle to that of a refrigerator running in reverse. Heat is absorbed from the outside air. This heat is then processed by the refrigeration system, which results in a higher temperature heat capable of heating your home and hot water.
Air source heat pumps have an efficiency of up to 400%, meaning that for every 1kw of electricity used to power the system 4kw of heat energy can be produced. In comparison, high efficiency gas condensing boilers have an efficiency rating of about 90%; older non condensing boilers can be as low as 65%.
ASHPs have a major advantage over Ground Source Heat pumps in that they are supplied as a neat box which is fitted outside of the property. There is no need to either dig up a large part of your garden, or bore holes deep into the earth. This is in contrast to Ground Source Heat Pumps.
Integrating ASHPs with other renewable technologies is rapidly becoming a viable solution for providing heat and hot water in every home. This is even more applicable if you live off of the mains gas network, as so many of us do here in Cornwall. The cost of LPG and especially Oil only ever seems to spiral upward.
If you would like further information or would like to discuss the possibilities of integrating renewable energy into your home or work place, please feel free to give us at Cornish Renewable Energy a call.
Ground source heat pumps work by extracting the thermal energy from the earth to aid in the heating of your home. They use pipes buried in the garden of your home to extract heat from the ground. This heat is then used to heat your hot water, radiators and under floor heating.
The heat is extracted from the ground via a loop of pipe, filled with a mixture of water and antifreeze, buried in your garden. The coil of pipe is either laid flat in trenches about 2 metres deep, or if space is an issue, the pipe can be installed vertically to a depth of 100m.
The temperature of the ground beneath the surface stays fairly constant throughout the year, so ground source heat pumps can be used even in the middle of winter.
If you would like further information or would like to discuss the possibilities of integrating renewable energy into your home or work place, please feel free to give us at Cornish Renewable Energy a call.
The sun is by far the most abundant energy source available to us on earth. The energy, in the form of solar radiation, arriving on the earth’s surface in 40 minutes is the equivalent of the power used by the entire population of earth in one year.
Solar water heating is one of the most practical and effective ways in which we can use and enjoy renewable energy in our homes.
There is a widely held pre-conceived mis-conception that the UK does not have enough sunshine to make solar hot water plausible. The Meteorological Office has been recording solar data for the last 30 years and in fact parts of the UK have annual solar radiation levels equal to 60% of those experienced at the equator. That part of the UK is us down here in Cornwall.
A correctly installed solar domestic hot water system could provide up to 60% of your annual household water requirements, meaning your reliance on costly and damaging fossil fuels would be greatly reduced.
When specifying a solar thermal system, we only install Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) approved collectors. Horizon Renewable Energy are MCS approved installers. This means that you, the customer will be able to claim any government Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments when they are decided later this year. If your installation is carried out by a non-MCS registered company, you will not be eligible for any RHI grants.
If you would like further information or would like to discuss the possibilities of integrating renewable energy into your home or work place, please feel free to give us at Cornish Renewable Energy a call.
There are two different types of collector commonly used at present – Evacuated tube and flat plate.
Evacuated Tube
Evacuated tube solar panels are the highest performing solar panels. They offer solar gain even when conditions are cold and cloudy. Vacuum tubes tend to have 360 degree absorption using Compound Parabolic Compound (CPC) mirror technology. This means that they represent the maximum hot water output for the minimum of roof space.
Flat Plate
Flat Plate solar collectors consist of a dark flat-plate absorber of solar energy, a transparent cover that allows solar energy to pass through but reduces heat losses, a heat-transport fluid to remove heat from the absorber, and a heat insulating backing. A grid or coil of fluid tubing placed in an insulated casing is used to feed the glycol mixture through the collector and back to the hot water cylinder.
Most (if not all) vacuum tube collectors use heat pipes for their core instead of passing liquid directly through them. Evacuated heat pipe tubes (EHPTs) are composed of multiple evacuated glass tubes each containing an absorber plate fused to a heat pipe.4 The heat from the hot end of the heat pipes is transferred to the transfer fluid (water or an antifreeze mix—typically propylene glycol) of a domestic hot water or hydronic space heating system in a heat exchanger called a “manifold”. The manifold is wrapped in insulation and covered by a sheet metal or plastic case to protect it from the elements.
What is PV?
How does it work?
What are the benefits?
If you would like further information or a free no obligation quotation detailing installation costs and projected feed in tariff returns, then please do not hesitate to contact us and we’d be happy to help.
In the south west we tend to receive more than our fair share of rain at times, so why not collect, store and reuse this natural resource?
Harvested rain water can be used for non potable applications e.g flushing toilets, filling washing machines and feeding outside taps. This will help cut your household water consumption, during times of ever increasing water bills. We also feel that it is wasteful to be using expensive, treated water for washing cars, watering the garden and flushing toilets.
A rain water harvesting systems tends to consist of a tank buried in the ground, which is fed rain water from one of the downpipes serving your roof. As the water enters the tank it is passed through a filter, to remove leaves and general debris. There is a pump situated in the tank which is used to pump the rain water up to a storage cistern in you loft. If the outside storage tank runs dry, the system automatically switches to mains cold water supply. Any services which are to be fed via the rain water system are then connected to a gravity fed supply which is taken from the outlet of the cistern.
Each system is individually designed to meet the roof area’s catchment yield and household requirements.
If you would like further information or would like to discuss the possibilities of integrating renewable energy into your home or work place, please feel free to give us at Cornish Renewable Energy a call.
We have two offices, one in Wadebridge & one in Camelford. The contact details for both of these are on the left.
