www.heatingandventilating.net
CONTROLS
Controls should sit high on net zero agenda
Nearly 90% of homes currently have heating delivered by a gas or oil boiler and the vast majority of these are not running as efficiently as they could be – largely through a lack of effective heating controls
O
ver the coming decades UK homes need to be improved so that they use significantly less energy. From a householder’s perspective this is likely to be happening ahead of plans to decarbonise heating by moving to, for example, hydrogen boilers and heat pumps, simply because the point at which they will probably look to change their current heating system is likely to be many years away, and anyone changing their boiler in the next few years is unlikely to get anything offered other than a like for like replacement.
Improving the energy efficiency of our homes is a massive task, and you only have to look around at the housing stock to realise that insulation is unlikely to be straightforward in many properties. Since the mid-90s it has been a legal requirement in the Building Regulations that heating systems have “effective controls” but, despite that, it can be reasonably argued that the level and type of control that most people have over their heating system is still far less effective than it could be. For the UK to get to net zero we need policy makers to put heating controls higher up the agenda as an energy saving measure – they should be a primary, rather than secondary measure in the Green Homes Grant Scheme for example, and we need consumers to recognise the benefits that heating controls can deliver. A barrier for consumers has always been the relative complexity of controls and the different options available, so it is crucial that industry
works to simplify the messaging. As part of this the BEAMA Heating Controls group has just published a consumer guide, as the start of a concerted effort to raise the profile of heating controls as an energy efficiency measure.
One thing that it is important to get across to householders is that if they have a gas or oil boiler for heating and hot water it will use far more energy than anything else in the home - on average, 80% of the total. Hence, if you are trying to reduce your energy use then this is the place to start and heating controls are a key component alongside fabric insulation (which itself is a heating measure) and, eventually, a more efficient heating appliance.
Individual room temperature control is one of the key improvements we need to promote. Adding TRVs to radiators allows each room to be set at a temperature to suit the occupants, or lower if not used regularly. They prevent the room from overheating and stop the boiler from heating a room that is already warm (even responding to winter sunshine). Research carried out by the University of Salford on behalf of BEAMA shows the potential for 18% savings by reducing overheating with TRVs. It is expected that the next version of the Building Regulations will require that TRVs are added to radiators when a boiler is replaced, but we also need to try to make this a recognised energy efficiency improvement that will deliver benefits when done separately from work on the boiler.
The second improvement to promote is an upgrade to the room thermostat, which most people are familiar with but will tend to only have a standard dial thermostat with on/off control of the boiler. While there is currently a lot of attention on ‘smart thermostats’, we should recognise that this is only part of the story and one of the key drivers should be towards thermostats that use load or weather compensation to improve the running efficiency of the boiler. BEAMA research to be released this year will show that the savings from these technologies are substantial and, importantly, independent of user behaviour.
To make it easy for consumers we need to start talking about feature-rich ‘advanced room thermostats’ that are smart, programmable and utilise load and weather compensation. This way consumers will know that they can get the best possible energy savings in one package. Heating controls are a proven, cost-effective and readily available technology and adding them to existing heating systems will make homes both more comfortable and more efficient. As the cost and complexities of getting UK homes to net-zero becomes more evident, the significant benefits of heating controls need to be communicated loud and clear. ‘Saving Energy with Heating Controls – A Householder Guide’ is available at https://www.
beama.org.uk/resourceLibrary/saving-energy-with- heating-controls.html
www.heatingandventilating.net
February 2021
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