Anyone living near a stream or river, may sometimes wonder, could I use this energy source for getting power or even heat to my house?
There could be good news: Using this energy may very well be possible, and in some cases even quite economical. However, not every site is suitable. In this article, I want to give readers an idea of what conditions favour the use of small hydro-power.

Once one factors in the environmental degradation that they cause, or very real the possibility of catastrophic global climate change, it would be very hard to argue that fossil fuels are very cost effective either. This is a subject about which the ESB, the CER (Commission for Energy Regulation - the body responsible for regulating Ireland’s energy sector) and many of our mainstream politicians try to avoid talking about.

Put, simply, manufactures test their turbines in favourable locations or in wind tunnels and the results obtained tell the householder very little about what to expect in their particular location.

For a good few years now, I make my living on solar energy and energy conservation. For a long time, I was surprised that interest in solar energy was quite good (even though the economics of it don’t work out that well as yet), while interest in energy conservation was near zero, even though energy conservation measures usually work out very cost-effective.