Suppliers and Installers of Solar Panels providing hot water for home and business use.

Welcome to the Renewable Energy Solutions website.

Renewable Energy Solutions is a division of Eddisbury Construction Company Limited, set up to add value to new and existing customers homes and businesses by installing Solar Panels to provide cheaper hot water. These solar panels collect radiation from the Sun and harness this energy source to heat water.

The information below gives an introduction to renewable energy and climate change, then a description of how solar panels work.

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is a source of energy that is essentially inexhaustible. Such sources include wind, tide, geothermal and solar power.

Solar power is the most abundant source of energy on the planet. It has been estimated that the amount of solar energy arriving at the Earth's surface every 40 minutes is equivalent to the total energy consumption of the human population for one year!

Non-renewable energy comes from a finite source, these include coal, gas and crude oil products. It is believed that the use of non-renewable energy sources has resulted in the highest levels of CO2 in the atmosphere for 600,000 years. It has been widely accepted amongst scientists that this increase in CO2 levels will result in a change in the World's climate.

Climate Change & Greenhouse Effect

The issue of climate change is real. CO2 is a greenhouse gas which means that it acts like a blanket round the Earth, keeping it warm at night. This night time warming is called the greenhouse effect. As CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere increase the blanket becomes thicker, keeping the Earth warmer each night. The result is an overall warming of the Earth's surface which can have many detrimental effects including:

• Rising sea levels
• Destruction of ecosystems
• Displacement of vegetation zones
• Increase in the number and intensity of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods

It is the responsibility of current generations to change their habits and life styles to do their part in reducing CO2 emissions, for the benefit of generations to come.

Does the British Isles Have Enough Solar Energy / Radiation?

A popular misconception is that the Sun has to be shining for the panels to work. This is not true as it is radiation from the sun that is harnessed, not sunlight. The UK and Ireland receive more than enough solar radiation to make a solar hot water system a viable prospect. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic receive about 65% of the solar radiation levels experienced in Spain, and about 55% of that at the equator.

How Solar Panels or Collectors Harness the Sun's Energy

Our solar panel hot water systems work by absorbing solar radiation to store as hot water. The energy from the Sun is absorbed by a solar collector, or solar panel, usually mounted on the roof. A heat transfer fluid, a water-glycol mixture, passes through the collector absorbing the heat and transferring it to the water in the water cylinder via heat exchangers.

The glycol mixture is pumped around a closed circuit called the solar circuit, heating up in the solar collector and cooling down in the hot water cylinder. As the glycol mixture cools down in the cylinder, the stored water heats up. The temperature of the glycol mixture in the collector and the hot water cylinder is monitored by a control unit that determines when the pump should be operating.

A solar hot water system requires a second coil in the hot water cylinder for the solar circuit, as shown in the cut-away diagram of a cylinder shown above. This solar coil is mounted at the bottom of the cylinder where the water is coldest. The heat transfer process is more efficient when the difference in the temperature between the glycol mixture and the stored water is higher. Hot water rises to the top of the cylinder where it is piped off to the hot water taps. The boiler coil is positioned higher up in the cylinder and is only in use when the water needs additional heating.

The solar hot water system works inconjunction with an existing boiler. More energy is needed heating cold water to warm, than heating warm water to hot. The solar system will heat cold water to warm and the boiler will boost the temperature to the required level, using far less energy than before.

Eddisbury Construction is based in the Cheshire village of Marton on the A34 between Congleton and Alderley Edge. We have extensive experience serving the North Staffordshire, Cheshire and North Derbyshire areas for over 25 years.

Cheshire & South Manchester towns covered

Alderley Edge Alsager Altrincham Birkenhead Bollington Bowdon Bramhall Cheadle Chester Crewe Congleton Didsbury Ellesmere Port Frodsham Gatley Helsby Holmes Chapel Hyde Kelsall Knutsford Macclesfield Malpas Middlewich Nantwich Neston Northwich Poynton Prestbury Runcorn Sandbach Sale Stockport Tarporley Warrington Widnes Willaston Wilmslow Winsford.

Derbyshireshire towns covered

Ashbourne Bakewell Buxton Chapel-en-le-Frith Chesterfield Glossop Tideswell Whaley Bridge Youlgreave

Staffordshire towns covered

Biddulph Cheadle Leek Madeley Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke-on-Trent Stone.

If your town is within the area indicated but not mentioned, or you live just outside the areas indicated please call us, we will try to help.

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