Heating systems
Understanding Lot 20
From January 2018, all local space heaters manufactured for sale into the EU must comply with a minimum efficiency standard under Lot 20 of the Energy Efficiency Directive. Chris Stammers, product marketing director for Dimplex, assesses the impact of Lot 20 in the commercial sector
W
e may still be awaiting the true extent of the fallout from Article 50, but one thing remains constant across the EU – our
need to use energy more efficiently. And when you consider that as much as 55% of energy consumed in commercial buildings is used on heating alone, it is easy to see where energy savings could be made.
What is Lot 20?
Supporting the EU’s commitment to cut CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, Lot 20 of the EED (2015/1188) states that all local space heaters manufactured for sale into the EU after 1st January 2018 that use electricity, gaseous or liquid fuels, must comply with a minimum efficiency standard. This includes electric radiators, electric underfloor heating and gas fires. Local room (or space) heating products are defined as appliances that provide heat to indoor spaces by generating heat at the same location as it is needed. Like other product categories, the aim is to rule out inefficient technologies and reduce the energy used in our buildings, helping to achieve our overall carbon reduction targets. In the commercial sector, this regulation will apply to local space heaters with “a nominal heat output of the product or of a single segment of 120kW or less” – providing the main purpose of the product is to deliver heat inside a building. In practice, this will include electric radiators, panel heaters and high heat retention heaters, all of which are specified to deliver reliable heating with quick warm-up and cool-down times in industrial units, offices, leisure facilities and communal areas in multiple occupancy residential buildings such as student housing. It will also include
overdoor heaters, commercial
fan heaters and air curtains, which provide a barrier between inside and outside preventing the need to keep doors open in high footfall premises – all providing effective sources of space heating in a wide range of commercial buildings.
Minimum efficiency calculation
For other energy using appliances, The European Commission has introduced the use of an energy efficiency labelling system, designed to drive the specification of higher efficiency products. However, electric space heating appliances are
always 100% efficient at point of use, so labelling was deemed inappropriate. Instead, a primary energy conversion coefficient of 2.5 will be introduced to calculate the seasonal space heating efficiency of electric appliances. Manufacturers will be required to incorporate a range of technologies which will enable the products to meet minimum efficiency targets, in line with a complex ‘scoring system’.
What technologies?
There are a series of features that may be incorporated into relevant products, all of which will ‘score’ differently according to the ‘correction factor’
specified within the regulations, helping manufacturers to meet the required standards. For example, at the most basic level Lot 20 will
only require entry level portable products to include at least electro-mechanical room temperature controls. In most cases these have been incorporated in portable products for some years so compliance will not be particularly arduous. However, LOT20 compliance requirements along with the recent advancements in the Internet of Things and smart technologies, mean there is a real opportunity for electric space heaters, in particular, to drive efficiency through intelligent, adaptive controls.
The latest installed products will need to include
features such as temperature control with presence detection or open window detection, distance control via an app, and even adaptive start control to suit the requirements of the user. Dimplex, for example, is applying the new standards to many of its products, with the addition of open window detection and adaptive start functions within an enhanced, integrated control and user interface unit. By researching and developing combinations of these features, we can provide specifiers and building managers alike with functional, user friendly and economical products that comply with Lot 20
legislation.
26 June 2017
www.heatingandventilating.net
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