Residential Information
[Solar
PV] [Solar
Thermal] [Geothermal]
[Wind]
Adros Energy designs, installs, and maintains many different
types of renewable energy systems for residential use. These
include Solar Photovoltaic for electrical production, Geothermal
for home heating and cooling, Solar Thermal for domestic hot
water and pool heating, and Wind Systems for electrical
production. We also provide an energy audit service to help
identify how to conserve energy. Adros Energy is your one stop
shop for the most popular renewable energy systems and audit
services.
Energy Conservation
Alternative system design is not just about using renewable
energy for heating, cooling, and electricity. It is also about
using energy efficiently. Things as simple as window placement
and flooring and window covering materials can affect how well
your design will function.
Energy conservation goes hand in hand with renewable energy. An
Energy Audit allows customers to know how to conserve before
investing in renewable energy systems.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV)
Basics
Used primarily for producing electric. The basics of Solar
Electricity are simple. The sun shines on solar modules (or
panels) which produce DC electricity. The current is then sent
to a DC disconnect, to an inverter which changes the current to
AC, through an AC disconnect and into your home for use or back
to the electrical grid for others to use. A net metering
agreement can be established between you and the utility so that
when you produce more electric than needed, your meter will spin
backwards giving you a credit for your electrical production.
When you’re not producing electric, say at night or cloudy days,
you get electric from the grid as you do now.
Figure 1:
Anatomy of a PV System
Solar Thermal
Solar Thermal Hot Water
Adros Energy is the expert in the area when it comes to Solar
Thermal applications. Weather you are heating domestic hot water
or a pool, we can help design, install and maintain a solar
thermal system. Weather your goals are to save money, the
environment, dependence on foreign oil, or reducing your carbon
footprint, Adros Energy is there to advice, design and installs
your new solar thermal system.
History
For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, humans have heated
water with sunshine simply by leaving a bucket of water in the
sun. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Typically up to 30%
of a home’s energy consumption is used just to heat water for
bathing, laundry, and cleaning. By installing a solar hot water
system, homeowner’s may save between 200 and 500 kilowatt hours
per month, or about $500 a year.
Why
Chose Solar Thermal
Installing a solar hot water system is typically the first and
most cost-effective step when turning to the sun for energy.
Even if a photovoltaic system is your primary interest, a solar
thermal hot water system along with a PV system will provide the
best economics and space efficiency on your roof.
The type of solar water heating systems chosen will largely be
determined by your climate as freezing temperatures may damage
components. Technology for solar thermal has had great
innovations in the recent decade bringing better efficiency,
cost effectiveness and reliability not previously known. A drain
back hot water system is the state of the art system design that
can be used in any climate and is now the system of choice for
most residential and commercial applications.
How Solar
Thermal Works
Have you ever felt warm water trickle out of a garden hose
that’s been sitting in the sun? If so, then you have witnessed
solar water heating in action. Now imagine that same water
moving slowly though a system specifically designed to heat and
store water; that is the essence of solar thermal water heating.
The solar thermal systems used today combine the most efficient
techniques for capturing the sun’s heat with modern plumbing
systems to produce cost effective hot water and reduce the need
for gas or electricity to heat water.
Figure 2:
Anatomy of a Solar Thermal System
Geothermal
Geothermal heat pumps
(sometimes referred to as GeoExchange, earth-coupled,
ground-source, or water-source heat pumps) have been in use
since the late 1940s. Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) use the
constant temperature of the earth as the exchange medium instead
of the outside air temperature. This allows the system to reach
fairly high efficiencies (300%-600%) on the coldest of winter
nights, compared to 175%-250% for air-source heat pumps on cool
days.
While many parts of the
country experience seasonal temperature extremes—from scorching
heat in the summer to sub-zero cold in the winter—a few feet
below the earth's surface the ground remains at a relatively
constant temperature. Depending on latitude, ground temperatures
range from 45°F (7°C) to 75°F (21°C). Like a cave, this ground
temperature is warmer than the air above it during the winter
and cooler than the air in the summer. The GHP takes advantage
of this by exchanging heat with the earth through a ground heat
exchanger.
Figure 3:
Anatomy of a Geothermal System
As with any heat pump,
geothermal and water-source heat pumps are able to heat, cool,
and, if so equipped, supply the house with hot water. Some
models of geothermal systems are available with two-speed
compressors and variable fans for more comfort and energy
savings. Relative to air-source heat pumps, they are quieter,
last longer, need little maintenance, and do not depend on the
temperature of the outside air.
A dual-source heat pump
combines an air-source heat pump with a geothermal heat pump.
These appliances combine the best of both systems. Dual-source
heat pumps have higher efficiency ratings than air-source units,
but are not as efficient as geothermal units. The main advantage
of dual-source systems is that they cost much less to install
than a single geothermal unit, and work almost as well.
Even though the
installation price of a geothermal system can be several times
that of an air-source system of the same heating and cooling
capacity, the additional costs are returned to you in energy
savings in 5–10 years. System life is estimated at 25 years for
the inside components and 50+ years for the ground loop. There
are approximately 50,000 geothermal heat pumps installed in the
United States each year.
Wind Systems
At Adros Energy,
wind is another alternative to produce electricity as part of
our renewable energy program. Most of the time a wind study
should be completed before a system is installed. Wind data maps
are available; however they may not be as accurate as needed.
Adros energy can conduct a wind study program which can take 30
days to a year to complete.
Why use Wind Power
Electricity produced by wind generation can be used directly, as
in water irrigation applications. It can be stored in batteries
for household use when needed, or can be grid- tied to the
utility for net-metering. Wind Turbines can be part of a hybrid
system that uses both wind and photovoltaic to produce
electricity. In this case, when the sun is shining and the wind
is calm, the PV system is producing electric, and when the
clouds come out and the wind picks up the wind system takes over
producing electric, so you are always producing power.
Feasibility and Power of Wind
The most important decision when considering wind power is
determining whether or not your property has enough wind to
generate the power for your needs. Wind quality should to be
measured to determine if it is available consistently, at
constant speed, amount of turbulence and if it is available
during each season of the year.
The power available from wind varies and is calculated by taking
the cube of wind speed. If the wind speed doubles, the power of
the wind increases 8 times. The ability to do work and produce a
lot of energy at higher wind speeds is very attractive. For
example, a 10 mile per hour wind is 10 x 10 x 10 =1000, and a 20
mile per hour wind has 20 x 20 x 20 =8000.
One of the effects of the cube rule is that a site which has an
average wind speed reflecting wide swings from very low to very
high velocity may have twice or more the energy potential of a
site with the same average wind speed which experiences little
variation. This is because the occasional high wind packs a lot
of power into a short period of time. If you are trying to
provide smaller amounts of power consistently, you should use a
wind generator that operates effectively at slower wind
velocities.
Wind
System Components
The basic components of a wind system are the anchor pad, the
tower, the wind turbine, an inverter and wiring to the home and
electrical grid. The installation of a wind system is very
similar to that of a photovoltaic system with the major
difference being the generator of electric. The power generated
from the wind system is sent from the turbine, down the tower to
a DC disconnect switch, through an inverter, into an AC
disconnect switch than to the home’s electrical panel. Some of
the newer wind turbines have an inverter in the turbine and
produce AC power within the turbine.
