BSEE


Terry Sharp, President of the Building Controls Industry Associaon (BCIA), discusses the planned overhaul of the Government’s Energy Technology List.


A


The Government’s plan to increase heat pump installaons is “doomed to failure” without a substanal increase in training for installers, according to consumer advice specialists at The Heang Hub.


Jo Alsop, Founder of The Heating Hub, said: “There are many financial and environmental benefits associated with heat pump installations as they operate at very high efficiencies of around 200-300%. The Government’s commitment to increase installations is a welcome move that will help the UK to achieve its goal of net-zero carbon by 2050.


R Jo Alsop  The Heang Hub


“However, without a meteoric increase in training and investment to upskill the workforce, this goal will be unachievable.


“Our research shows that over 90%* of the UK’s heating system engineers are not trained to properly install and set up modern condensing gas boilers to operate at their peak efficiencies, in spite of the fact that such high efficiency boilers have been mandatory for the past 15 years. Furthermore, 86%* of installers feel “let down” by the sector in terms of the inadequate training they have received.


“Given that the sector has comprehensively failed to train the workforce to fit new gas boilers correctly, it seems doubtful that engineers will receive the training they need, without intervention.


“Furthermore, with roughly 22.5 million homes in the UK already running on gas heating, improving the efficiency of gas boilers presents a huge opportunity to reduce our carbon emissions. Incorrectly installed boilers work below their operational efficiency, using more fuel as a result, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.


s I speculated in my December column, it was always unlikely that we were going to be able to press a


virtual ‘reset’ button on 1st January and forget the memory of 2020. The second lockdown period implemented in November made it very obvious that until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available then we are going to have to continue adapting to new ways of living.


Business must go on for the BCIA, however, and shortly before Christmas we were busy


coordinating a collective response to the overhaul of the Energy Technology List (ETL) scheme, a government-approved list of approximately 15,000 energy efficient technologies which functions as a tool for UK business to help identify and invest in highly energy efficient product. As part of the wider ETL Research Programme for 2020/21, ICF has launched a Scoping study on Product Systems, with the aim of establishing and forming a better understanding of how products combined within a system can tackle further savings and add value to the ETL programme. The BCIA is supportive of any initiative that encourages the uptake of energy efficient technologies and we were keen to contribute to the overhaul of the ETL and Enhanced Capital Allowances (tax incentives) scheme for users of the approved energy efficient products. In practice though we find the scheme frustrating and difficult to quantify. The ETL endorses products that can prove quantifiable energy savings. This is fine in the case of a washroom hand dryer which is faster than its


INDUSTRY COMMENT The Overhaul of ETL


rivals, or a water heater technology that uses less energy to boil the same amount of water than its competitors. We can calculate energy cost savings to these specific examples. But how much energy does a thermostat save? None by itself but potentially loads of energy can be saved by efficiently controlling the heating system and the ETL scheme cannot cope with this.


So, we could find ourselves rewarding energy efficient equipment being applied and used very wastefully. The ETL scheme does not want to accommodate products that require engineering, configuration or are application dependant. Each ‘gadget’ must be out-of-the-box ready to save more energy than its rival.


The controls industry does of course have a couple of exceptions that comply with the requirement. A 4kW inverter drive will usually offer defined energy savings because they are most often used to drive 4kW electric motors. But it is often the same BMS controller technology which is applied to the modest heating system in a small building or the grandest of city skyscrapers. The energy savings are obviously scalable.


We have an ISO15232 standard that says energy savings of up to 30 per cent can be achieved through proper control. It is a shame the Government cannot recognise this and motivate, reward and encourage the use of modern BMS technologies in both new and existing building applications.


BCIA Awards 2021


We are of course hopeful that the BCIA Awards can take place for real this year – and the date is in the diary for it to go ahead on Thursday 6th May 2021 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. The way everybody got into the spirit for our ‘virtual’ event last year was great to see, but I think we can all agree that nothing beats the real thing – so fingers crossed! The closing date for entries is Friday 22nd January 2021, so if you or your company feel you should be up for an award you can now enter using our brand new online entry system which allows you to start, edit, view and download your entry before submitting it. Good luck, and I really hope I can see some of you there!


www.bcia.co.uk


Government’s heat pumps plan “doomed to failure” without massive increase in training


ecently, the Government outlined its 10-step plan for a “green industrial revolution”, which included a commitment to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.


“Providing the training to help engineers to install and set up modern condensing boilers to run at their A-rated label efficiencies would present a far quicker route to reducing emissions in the short term. Moreover, once gas engineers know how to get condensing boilers working at their A-label efficiencies, the transition to heat pumps is an easy one.”


Heat pumps use latent heat in the air, that is present even in cold temperatures, and convert it to useable heat for the home. Heat pumps are the most efficient alternative to fuel, oil and fully electrical systems, achieving efficiency rates of up to 300%. In other words, for every one unit of electricity they use they produce three units of energy.


The Heang Hub says more training is needed to close the skills gap


However, they are expensive (typical prices range from £7,000 to £12,000 for an air source heat pump) and considerably more difficult to install than gas boilers, as research must be undertaken in order to understand the movement of heat, local geology, as well as the heating requirements for a household.


Alsop concluded: “Given the complexities of heat pump installations, it is vital that they are installed and set up correctly to ensure households receive the efficiency savings they have been promised. Get it wrong and efficiencies will drop while fuel bills soar.


“We cannot repeat the mistakes of gas boilers and fit ‘A-rated’ appliances that are only C-rated or less in the home because installers do not


understand low temperature heating systems. If we are serious about meeting our net zero 2050 target, we have to strive for actual efficiencies, not on-paper efficiencies.


“Without a step-change in the way the workforce is trained, there seems little doubt that the Government’s policy is doomed to failure. There simply won’t be a sufficient number of qualified engineers to install such a high volume of heat pumps within the next six to seven years and the heat pumps that do get installed won’t meet their label efficiencies.”


For more information on The Heating Hub, visit the website.


www.theheatinghub.co.uk 8 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JANUARY 2021 Read the latest at: www.bsee.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38