Small scale renewable energy
On this page you'll find links to information about small-scale renewable energy technologies, which are either electricity supply systems or thermal heating and cooling systems, and may include:
- Photovoltaics - solar electricity (external link)
- Small-scale wind turbines
- Domestic solar water heaters and heat pumps (external link)
- Commercial/Industrial solar water heaters
- Commercial solar cooling systems
Benefits of small-scale renewable energy technologies
Small-scale renewable energy technologies are localised and decentralised (i.e. provide electricity or cooling / heating to meet local needs such as an apartment building, industrial plant, recreation centre or local community) energy generation systems that are either embedded (i.e. physically connected) into an electricity grid or district heating and/or cooling network or used as a stand-alone off-grid system.
There are many good reasons for deploying small-scale renewable energy technologies:
- Reducing energy dependence on fossil fuel generation
- Increasing the resilience against rising energy prices
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption of fossil fuel generation
- Supporting both local and regional employment e.g. engineering, consulting, design, installation, maintenance, etc.
- Reducing transmission and distribution losses.
Top | Last updated 11/03/2011