BATHROOMS & KITCHENS FOCUS 43
Efficiency is the hot topic for water specification
Recent changes to Building Regulations are driving a greater focus on water use and the heat used for domestic hot water. Here, Suzannah Adey of Mira Showers looks at the impact of these, and forward to future changes
T
he aim of the Future Homes Standard is to ensure new homes built from 2025 produce 75-80% fewer carbon emissions than homes built under the old regulations. While these improvements will inevitably help future homes to reduce their carbon footprint and energy use, the homeowner will expect the same if not higher living standards. Indeed, as building efficiency improves through space insulation, so will the percentage share of energy attributed to hot water increase. This could see hot water generation become the largest portion of a household’s energy budget.
As hot water production is already the second highest user of energy in an average UK home, with showering representing 50% of household hot water use, it’s important that bathroom and shower designers consider reducing energy and hot water demand in a home. As a result, the need for shower manufacturers to provide energy efficient showers will be an important factor in housing specification.
The Future Homes Standard – for a cleaner, greener built environment With the aim of reducing the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, the Government believes the regulation changes are a vital step towards a cleaner, greener built environment. It’s therefore incredibly important that architects start looking at how they can meet these targets now. Of course, creating more sustainable technologies and meeting the rigorous requirements will be crucial for creating energy-efficient homes. With sustainability a key aspect of the built environment’s future, extensive decarbonisation should be at the forefront of their minds. One of the most effective ways of reducing a home’s
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carbon footprint is the improvement of heating and hot water systems and the reduction of heat waste.
Showers & the Standard Assessment Procedure Hot water delivery and showering plays a huge role in a property’s energy use, meaning showers are an incredibly important aspect of the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) for the energy rating of dwellings. SAP assesses how much energy a dwelling will use while delivering a defined level of service provision and comfort and are based on standardised assumptions for occupancy and behaviour. To enable the assessment of the energy efficiency rating and emissions of CO2
, SAP
quantifies a dwelling’s performance in terms of energy use per unit floor area. These
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Up to 65% of the energy that normally remains in shower waste water and enters the drain could be recovered and used to preheat incoming cold water, reducing the energy required to run the shower
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