Micro-generation is a big word (well two) for making your own power or heat. It can be at home, the office or other workplace, or your community building. Basically you can generate energy from the sun, wind, air, water or ground for use in your building.

You might decide to use a wind turbine to make electricity to light your building or solar panels or tubes to heat water for your showers. You might be able to design your building with this in mind, or fit a system to your existing building to suit your requirements. Either way, your building can become a small environmentally friendly power station.

Micro-generation means that you might make your own electricity, or your own heat. It could mean installing any one, or a combination, of the following:

• Ground / Air / Water Source Heat Pump
• Solar Thermal Panels or Tubes
• Solar Photovoltaic Panels
• Wind Turbine
• Hydro Electric
• Wood/Biomass Heating
• Combined Heat and Power
• District Heating

Using renewable resources to make energy makes sense – and if you are able to install micro-generation technology in your community building then it is a practical and exciting way of showing your commitment to change and helping the environment.

The benefits of micro-generation

Here are just a few of the many benefits of micro-generation:

Generating your own heat and/or power will save you money. It will help protect you from energy price fluctuations and enable you to plan better for the future. Beyond capital costs, for which grants are available (see our SOURCE Fund page, and micro-generation fact sheets), micro-generation systems are relatively simple and cheap to maintain.

It is the cherry on top of the cake for all the hard work that you have done to reduce the environmental impact of your community building - a physical symbol that you are doing your bit.

By installing micro-generation technology in your community building, local people will see and understand what it is all about and how easy it is to install. It will give you and the building users a different perspective on energy use by keeping you directly in touch with where your energy is coming from - inspiring others to make a difference and educating many about the importance of sustainability and low carbon energy solutions.

The following sections have all been created to help you better understand what you can do in your premises and how to go about it.