Ecoworks specialises in small, off-grid 100% renewable energy systems.

It's probably worthy of note that if you were to sign up to a green electricity supplier what you are in fact doing is supporting the production of electricity via renewable sources. Your chosen company is then charged with supplying, from renewable sources, the amount of electricity you pay for to the National Grid. The present level of renewable energy feeding the Grid is still only around 5% of the total energy mix. Therefore, what you use in your home, at the socket, is only 5% from renewables. Would if electrons were that clever, but even the 'green' ones cannot be directed to a particular postcode.

In reality, the world needs to face up to the fact that overall energy usage must be reduced dramatically rather than attempts made to continue to feed the present level of consumption by alternative means. Already we are seeing the use of land to cultivate crops for bioethanol and biodiesel pushing up food prices worldwide.

		Solar We have a fairly large array of amorphous silicon photo-voltaics, which is the very backbone of our design facility. The system is now on its third upgrade and has expanded to encompass powering security systems, video links and weather monitoring. We can measure the inputs and outputs from this system right down to the mAmp and are starting to work with smaller, modular systems which run off flexible panels.
		Wind The wind turbine we have here is not one of the massive structures which everyone complains about but a small, efficient, self-furling one which works within an enclosed system. When weather fronts change, that's the time of thermal differences in the atmosphere which bring winds. These are the earth's heat exchange system. Our turbine supplies power to our back-up system which can be engaged at the flick of a switch, excess power being utilised for pumping water uphill.
		Water We have lived and worked with water for more than 20 years, being that Ecoworks is based close to the source of an ancient spring (20 metres away). The springs here, in 2007, produced over 75 million litres, and we are fortunate to have a drop of just over 3 metres which enables us to power a micro-hydro system. This system can deliver between 1 and 10 amps/hour depending upon flow rate, which in turn depends upon rainfall.
		Biomass Biomass is an agrarian fuel source, being any growable source with a high combustion or fermentation value. Our biomass installation is only for cooking and heating purposes - either directly or indirectly through piped hot water. Systems which produce electrical power are referred to as CHP systems (combined heat and power) but these are large installations having a turbine-powered blast furnace incorporated into the design, and are used in the main for district heating projects and large establishments.
		Biodiesel Biodiesel is an alternative to petroleum diesel fuel and is made from renewable resources, such as vegetable oils. In its stored state it is non-flammable, non-explosive, biodegradeable and non-toxic. We helped set up the first community-based biodiesel plant in south Wales, UK, and use this fuel to power our 7kW generator for heavier, plant-based machinery.
		Weather Station When you use renewable energy systems, a good knowledge and understanding of weather systems and trends is essential. With a good weather satellite picture you can plan your next power resource. We are building a sophisticated weather station here, one which will be useful not only to ourselves but the wider community and which will monitor rainfall, wind direction and strength, humidity, evaporation and multiple temperatures. Among many other things this will allow us to monitor the correlation between rainfall and our spring's output.