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Succeed With Green Energy & Solar Power Courses

How do you fancy getting into a job in a growing and technologically advancing industry? Qualifying as an installer with 'green' certifications will allow you to do that. People are increasingly looking at green energy systems to reduce their CO2 emissions - within twelve months from now you could be a certified installer of energy efficient equipment. Oil and gas supplies are running out, and energy prices are prohibitive. We're constantly being told to use less energy in our day to day lives.

Western leaders are keen to encourage citizens to strive for greener alternatives to the more traditional methods. British householders can get government grants for certain energy efficient improvements. This means there's an increasing amount of installation work for properly accredited professionals. It's therefore a good idea commercially that your electrical or plumbing training includes working with green energy systems.

If you're already in the trade, you can tune-up your knowledge and add to your current offering.

Free E-Book

To learn the specifics of what's needed to get into the industry, we recommend you download your Free copy of our Training Information Guide.

How Do We Define Green Technology?

Green technology uses the earth's natural resources and converts them into usable energy. So we can use sunshine, rain, wind and the tides to generate more power for ourselves. Today's technology now allows us to benefit from solar energy in our homes if the right equipment is installed. Trades people with green credentials can capitalise on this.

Solar Power

Solar water heating collectors absorb energy from the sun and convert it into hot water. As the technology has been available for a while, we now have a large number of systems to choose from. A UK family could expect to get most of their hot water from a modern solar system from June to September. Year round, something in the region of 50 per cent of the hot water could be met by solar energy. We can choose either flat or tubular collection systems. As might be expected, a south-facing roof is the ideal location for these collectors.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels capture energy from the sun and use it to generate electricity. When the panels are facing the light, they can generate energy all year round (though obviously the more sun that shines on them the better). PV panels are linked to an inverter that could be installed in the roof space. From there the AC electric is connected to the electrical consumer panel that delivers electricity around the house. Householders can expect a photovoltaic system to provide around 40 per cent of their annual electricity, and so reduce both their bills and carbon footprint significantly. Anyone with a system that produces more electricity than the household consumes can automatically sell their excess to the national grid. In the UK energy companies by law have to pay agreed rates to householders per kilowatt hour of electricity, but this can vary depending on the tariff they're on. In Britain an average of 850 kWh of electricity a year is generated for every kWp of solar PV installed. Put in perspective, the average household consumes approximately 4,700 kWh a year.

Naturally Stored Heat

Solar energy is naturally stored in the ground - in the UK the ground source heat is constantly around 12 degrees centigrade. In order to extract the heat, 40mm geothermal pipe is installed into the ground, and fed with a fluid solution. The solution flows through the pipes and collects heat which is taken to the heat pump.

Homes with underfloor heating will notice the biggest benefits that heat pumps can bring. Heat pumps need a small amount of electricity to run them, but the savings by far outweigh the costs.

Green Engineering Training Courses

When you train to work in the green installations industry, you'll pick up a variety of worthwhile skills. As well as basic certification in domestic plumbing and electrical work, you'll cover legal requirements, health & safety plus how and where government funding can be applied. You should acquire the right skills and accreditations to able to work with solar thermal and solar PV systems, and geothermal heat pumps.

Courses in domestic green skills and qualifications are developing fast, to keep up with the increased demand caused by government incentives. The green market is growing fast, and opportunities are increasing in existing domestic properties, new builds and social housing.

Working With Future Trends...

By law, each house in Britain now needs an Energy Performance Certificate before it can be sold. This tells potential buyers how much energy is being consumed and where improvements could be made. Often more modern or alternative equipment can lower running costs significantly. And in many cases funding is available from the British government to help pay for this, providing the installations are fitted by certified trades people.

Let's look to the near future though. By the year 2016, the law states that all new houses will have to produce a minimum of 15 per cent of their energy from replenishable supplies. It will soon be socially, ethically and financially unacceptable to ignore renewable energy - and those with the right skills will find themselves in great demand.