Online Renewable Energy Course

Now more relevant than ever, this online course in Alternative Energy, addresses problems such as conservation, sustainability and dealing with global warming.

It covers the basics of electricity, how to generate electricity from renewable resouces, how to store energy, non electrical systems, energy consumption and conservation.  Learn to understand why alternative and renewable energy is so important and how to go about it.

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. 1. Introduction: The Problems and the Energy Sources.
      • Scope and Nature
      • Terminology
      • Energy consumption through history
      • Climate Change
      • Energy units
      • Problems with Fossil Fuels
      • Problems with other energy sources ... hydro electricity, nuclear, wind, solar
   2. Understanding Energy
      • Terminology
      • Understanding electricity
      • Conductors and non conductors
      • Measuring electricity ...current, voltage, resistance
      • Ohm's Law
      • Circuits ... Series; parallel
      • Kirchhoffs law
      • Power
      • Power ratings
      • Magnetism
      • Electromagnetism and Solenoids
      • Electric motors
      • Inductors
      • Lenz's law
   3. Generating Electricity
      • Turbines
      • Generators
      • Fuel cells
      • Wind Power
      • Large Scale Wind System Design
      • Small Scale Wind System Design
      • Solar Energy
      • Positioning a solar cell
      • Small Scale Solar
      • Future Developments in Solar
      • Geothermal Energy
      • Dry Steam Power Plants
      • Flash Steam Power Plants
      • Binary Cycle Power Plants
      • Advantages of Geothermal
      • How Geothermal is used
      • Geothermal heat pumps
      • Hydropower
      • Tide and Current Power
      • Tide Barage
      • Tidal Turbines
      • Wave Power
      • Nuclear Energy
      • Fission Reactors
      • Fusion
      • Half Lives and Radioactivity
      • Waste to Energy
   4. Storage and Using Electricity
      • Terminology
      • Cells - simple cell, car battery, gel, AGM, Nickel etc
      • Deep Cycle Battery
      • Lithium Rechargeable Batteries
      • Calculating Battery Requirements
      • Inverters
      • Alternators and Regulators
      • Converters
      • System Types
      • EMR & electricity use
      • Recommended Exposure Limits
      • Safety with Electricity
   5. Non-Electric Systems
      • Scope and nature
      • Passive Solar
      • Fire Wood
      • Drying and storing wood
      • Comparing different wood types
      • Smoke fires
      • Creosote formation in fire flues
      • Environmental aspects of burning wood
      • Biofuels
      • Ethonol
      • Small scale Biomass
      • Passive Solar Energy
      • Solar hot water ... flat plate collectors, evacuated tubes, open or closed circuit, passive or active systems, heat pumps
      • Greenhouses
      • Night insulation
      • Solar Garden Water Features
   6. Energy Consumption
      • Reducing energy consumption
      • Pricing
      • Population growth
      • Large scale reduction of energy consumption - managing green cities, urban sprawl, peak demands, transport, etc.
   7. Energy Conservation
      • How a home owner can reduce energy consumption
      • Temperature control
      • Minimising light energy consumption
      • Minimising appliance energy consumption
      • Insulation
      • Water conservation
      • Solar house design
   8. Converting to Alternative Systems
      • Estimating Energy Needs
      • Building Efficiency
      • System Design
      • System Designers

For more information on this course, please request your free course information pack.