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High energy efficiency for high- rise flats
SenerTec’s Gary Stoddart explains the role that combined heat and power (CHP) can play in increasingly popular new build communal heating schemes.
I
n communal heating schemes (sometimes referred to as community heating, district heating or heat networks), heat is supplied
to individual properties from centralised plant, with the heat being delivered through a single pipework distribution arrangement. The concept is something that is being more widely seen, par- ticularly in multi-occupancy high rise schemes such as apartment blocks. Heat interface units (HIUs) – also known as
heat boxes – will generally be used to provide the heating, or heating with domestic hot water, to individual properties. The householder will then control their supply with a room thermostat, a separate programmer or individual thermostat radiator valves. Importantly, HIUs also record the heat consumed for accurate energy billing; further guidance on metering can be obtained from The Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations 2014.
In high rise developments centralised schemes
can offer benefits over the more traditional solu- tion of installing separate heating systems (which would typically comprise gas-fired combi boilers or a form of electric heating) in each individual property. For example, efficiencies can be increased and fuel consumption can be reduced. In fact, centralised plant systems are particularly well positioned to help developers meet their required targets in a cost-effective way. For more information, visit the BSRIA website (
www.bsria.co.uk). Using centralised plant also reduces the issues
associated with supplying gas to multi-dwelling, high rise buildings. It decreases the risks sur- rounding gas distribution pipework and eliminates the need to fit numerous flue termi- nals, plume displacement kits and condensate drainage systems, hence reducing capital installa- tion and whole life costs. Installing HIUs in each property rather than individual boilers further reduces installation costs and boiler size is also reduced, as individual boilers such as combis are generally oversized for the hot water capacity. In the situation that the dwellings are to be
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rented rather than sold, it makes servicing and maintaining the heating equipment much easier, and removes the need for legally required land- lord gas appliance checks to be carried out in each individual property (providing there are no other gas appliances in the dwellings). In addition, with centralised plant, a number
of different fuel sources can be used – and if low carbon technologies such as CHP are adopted, energy costs and carbon emissions can be reduced even further. In its 2013 document The future of heating: meeting the challenge, the Gov- ernment suggested there is great potential to develop heat networks so that they can play a part in the move to low carbon heating. CHP units generate electricity while also cap-
turing usable heat produced during the process. On-site CHP is approximately 30 per cent more efficient than relying on traditional heating plant and electricity supplied solely from the grid, and can cost up to four times less, according to the Energy Saving Trust (www.ener-
gysavingtrust.org.uk). When thinking about specifying CHP for a communal heating scheme one of the most
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