Green Residential Renewable Home Heating Systems

Here you will find a brief description of the types of residential renewable home heating systems available for your home. For more detailed information on each renewable resource, please go to the 'See also' links at the bottom of the page.

On this page you will find sections on different types of residential renewable home heating systems:

The sun provides all our renewable energy needs

Solar Heating
Heat Pumps -
Photovoltaic (PV) Systems
Wind Turbines
Biofuel

Solar Heating

Solar heating systems use the radiant heat (infra-red energy from the sun) to heat stored domestic water in your home. Solar heat can also be used to pre-heat your underfloor heating system.

If your solar heating system is powered by solar electric such as a photovoltaic system then you would have a 'zero carbon' solar heating system making it a totally green residential renewable home heating system.

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Heat Pumps

Ground source heat pumps extract the geothermal heat from soil or rock. This heat can then be used in your home to provide heating and hot water provision. Ground source heat pumps can also provide summer cooling by extracting the heat from your home and then storing that heat in the ground for winter use.

Water source heat pumps extract heat from water via a 'closed' or 'open' loop system. This heat can be used in your home to provide heating and hot water. Water source heat pumps can also be used for summer cooling.

Air source heat pumps take the heat from the air which is then used in your home to provide heating and the reverse cycle for cooling. There are air heat pumps that can heat stored water. If using an 'indirect' hot water cylinder you can also pre-heat an underfloor heating system (an indirect cylinder has a copper coil heat exchanger inside).

All heat pumps provide efficient cost-effective residential renewable home heating.

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Photovoltaic (PV) Systems

Photovoltaic (PV) systems use solar cells to convert light into electrical energy. These cells are housed in modules that are placed in an array which you will know as solar panels. PV systems can be sized to provide all your electrical energy requirements or to just supplement them.

These system can be 'On Grid' meaning that you are still connected to the power grid, or 'Off Grid' stand alone systems that use batteries to store the energy for home use. Using a PV system to provide the power for heat pumps and solar heating systems translates into a completely green residential renewable home heating and power system.

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Wind Turbines

Wind turbines harness the power of the wind to turn generators that produce electrical energy. However, these systems need the right amount of wind speed to be affective, greater the wind speed means increased power production.

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Biofuel

Biofuel such as biodiesel can be used to run generators to supplement your power needs, heating with bio-technology. Biodiesel is obtained from vegetable oil and this makes it renewable. It is also carbon neutral meaning it does not add or take away from the overall amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere which is linked to the present climate changes. As with PV and wind turbines systems, using a power generator fueled with biodiesel can provide power for heat pumps in your home making it another green residential renewable home heating and power system.