Term of the Week
Term of the week
Microgeneration
This means producing amounts of electricity – from an installation up to 50 kilowatt capacity (a kilowatt – kW – is a unit of measurement of power) from renewable sources like solar, wind and hydro, typically for the electricity user’s own use. Producing your own electricity in this way can help to reduce your electricity bills and help the environment.
Examples: Electricity generated from solar panels on our homes.
A well placed, home rooftop solar panel system (about 12 square meters) would produce around 1,680 kilowatt hours of electricity a year (a kilowatt hour is a measure of the energy consumed by power consumption of 1kW during 1 hour). That is 40% of the average yearly electricity demand of an Irish home.
Producing electricity with a 50kW installation would power the daily electricity demands of about 10 average households in Ireland.
You can find out more about microgeneration at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/b1fbe-micro-generation/
Related terms:
Energy Efficiency
It is energy efficient when we use less energy to achieve the same result.
Example: insulating a house means that less energy is needed to heat a house to the required level. Replacing an old boiler with a more efficient version means that less fuel is used to provide the amount of heat you need.
Example: we can improve energy efficiency by making changes to how we do things like turning off lights and electronics when we are not using them.
You can find out more about energy efficiency in your home at https://www.seai.ie/home-energy/
Building Energy Rating (BER)
BER stands for Building Energy Rating. A BER certificate shows you the energy performance of your home. It is a good indicator of how much you will spend on energy (like heat and light) and how much carbon you will produce to heat your home to a comfortable level.
The BER rating goes from A to G. A-rated homes are the most energy efficient, comfortable and typically have the lowest energy bills. G-rated homes are the least energy efficient and require a lot of energy to heat the home.
You can find out more about BER at https://www.seai.ie/home-energy/building-energy-rating-ber/
Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS)
This Government scheme provides financial support to renewable electricity projects in Ireland to help us achieve our renewable electricity goals. It also aims to increase community participation in, and ownership of, renewable electricity projects. It aims to make sure electricity consumers get value for money and to improve security of our electricity supply.
You can find out more about RESS at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/36d8d2-renewable-electricity-support-scheme/
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