In the light of rising fuel bills and average gas bills exceeding £1000 a year, we have introduced a course designed to educate and inform individuals about renewable energy heating and energy technologies.

This course is aimed at:

• Architectural technicians
• Housing associations etc
• Heating engineers etc
• Electricians

who wish to know more about existing and emerging renewable energy technologies. The target market is householders, housing associations, teachers, local building control officers, housing developers, installers wishing to know more before committing themselves to a full course, etc.

The course consists of:

• Getting started, cost of fuel, climate change and energy efficiency
• Solar thermal water heating
• Domestic scale biomass systems
• Heat pumps
• Wind power
• Photo-voltaic systems
• Micro-hydro

The course aim is to give background to each of these technologies, to explain what each will do and will not do and to cover costs, payback periods and grants, etc. Individuals wishing to know more after attending this course can progress to either the Full or Defined Scope courses, depending upon their existing skills and qualifications. For example a heating engineer could undertake the full Solar Thermal Hot Water course whilst an architect could undertake the Defined Scope Solar Thermal Hot Water course.

The course is designed to be as flexible as possible and the sessions can be run as evening classes, day classes or weekend seminars dependent upon your preference.

Participants will be tested on their retention of knowledge at the end of the programme and successful candidates will receive a certificate of achievement.

Course aim:
To provide participants with an understanding of the issues, economics and technologies surrounding the installation of renewable energy systems in a domestic setting.

Participants will:

• Identify which renewable energy option(s) might be appropriate in different circumstances
• Explain which end uses can be met by each technology, i.e. space heating, power and lighting
• Discuss the various motivations for using renewable energy
• List energy efficiency home improvements and behaviours
• Distinguish between different types of system
• Understand how systems work and their components
• Know where to access grants and the levels available for each technology
• Calculate typical costs (including installation, running costs, savings and payback times)
• Understand the issues to consider when installing technologies in your own home (sizing, storage, grid connection, maintenance)
• Understand planning and building control issues
• Calculate the CO2 saving for each technology

Student materials
As the course aim is to provide an overview of each technology there is no course manual supplied, however there are student handouts provided for each of the technologies covering the key learning points.