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The Existing Housing Stock and Climate Change Inquiry
Memorandum by Beama Ltd
1. About Beama
1.1 Beama Ltd. represents over 300 manufacturing companies primarily from the electrical industry. The range of manufacturing activities includes high voltage equipment (transmission and distribution), low voltage building services equipment (heating, ventilation and lighting) and installation equipment (switches, sockets and cable management products).
1.2 The comments in this memorandum relate primarily to the heating and ventilation, controls and metering sectors.
2. Introduction
2.1 Beama welcomes this enquiry into the reduction of carbon emissions from the existing UK housing stock and agree that this is a critical area for Government to address. We also welcome the opportunity that this provides for industry to work closely with Government to develop and instigate practical solutions.
2.2 While the move to zero carbon homes in new build might considerably change the nature of how such homes are heated, it is important to recognise that millions of existing homes will continue to utilise conventional heating systems with boilers and radiators far beyond 2016.
2.3 Beama is keen to ensure that Advanced Controls and Smart Metering are recognised as important elements in reducing the climate change impact of existing homes. They can deliver energy savings in their own right, but they also make possible a three-way interaction between householders, the energy using systems and appliances in their homes, and the supply of that energy by utilities or local generation. It is this interaction that will allow householders to make the most efficient use of energy in their homes.
3. Contextual Factors
3.1 We have identified three key contextual factors that will need to be fully considered within strategic approaches to improve the efficiency of existing homes:
3.1.1 Existing homes with uninsulated lofts and unfilled cavity walls should generally have these insulated first as these will usually provide significant and cost-effective carbon savings. From a strategic perspective though, it should be expected that CERT will largely tackle these measures[1], and greater efforts are therefore required to identify and support other technologies that can achieve cost effective carbon savings. Beama strongly believe that there is untapped potential for heating controls to provide significant carbon savings as discretionary measures for occupiers of existing homes. Also there is good evidence that smart metering leads to significant reductions in energy usage.
3.1.2 Even when insulated, most existing homes will still have a substantial energy demand that is unlikely to be largely met through renewable technologies in the foreseeable future. While it is likely that there will be an increasing range of technologies available to reduce the carbon emissions of these homes, we fully expect that the key need will be to integrate these technologies with the main heating, hot water and energy supply systems and therefore to optimise the savings that they deliver. For example: · A new condensing boiler that is fitted into a radiator and pipework system that was designed to heat the property when it was less well-insulated, and is therefore over-sized for the current heating load. · A solar thermal system that has to work with the existing hot water system · Electricity supplied by a community wind turbine that has to merge with the existing electricity supply of individual houses In order for the impact of these, and other, technologies to be optimised it will be essential to ensure that there is an adequate focus on the role and development of advanced controls and smart metering.
3.1.3 There is an increasing focus from Government on the role that citizens need to play in combating climate change[2]. A low carbon economy will require 'environmental citizens' who choose to use energy in a sustainable manner, and who may have personal carbon allowances to use at their discretion. It will be reasonable to expect that citizens will not only have an important part to play in specifying low carbon technologies for their homes, but will also expect to be able to get information from and interact with those technologies. These needs can be met through the development of advanced controls and smart metering, and this must be given emphasis in the forward planning for other customer engagement mechanisms such as Energy Performance Certificates so that householders can see the consistency between information on paper, on the web, and in their homes.
4. Advanced Controls
4.1 More than 80 per cent of home energy use is for heating and hot water[3], but many existing homes only have basic controls, and the vast majority of these do not meet the standards defined in the current building regulations. (It is also questionable whether new boilers installed in existing properties are currently receiving the upgrade in controls that the 2005 building regulations require. Any issues of compliance should also be a high priority within a strategy for existing homes.)
4.2 The implication of basic controls is that the heating and hot water system will not operate efficiently and the occupants will not have the flexibility to improve that efficiency even if they want to. Even where modern, more inherently efficient boilers are installed their energy use can be compromised by the control system. In addition, further efficiency improvements in heating and hot water systems are unlikely to come from improvements in boiler technology but from improvements in controls.
4.3 The definition of advanced controls covers current control technologies that are rarely applied by installers (e.g. zone control, weather compensation), as well as emerging technologies such as chrono-proportional electronic thermostats that can provide much closer control of room temperatures and that interact with modern boilers to improve their operating efficiency.
5. Smart Meters
5.1 Smart metering is designed to provide utility customers information on a real time basis about their domestic energy consumption. This information includes data on how much gas and electricity they are consuming, how much it is costing them and what impact their consumption is having on greenhouse gas emissions.
5.2 Long term testing has shown that the installation of a smart meter can lead to a reduction in energy use of 5-10% through behavioural changes. However, they also have the potential to motivate (or confirm) improvements through better billing information and also to manage the electricity demand from homes in response to supply conditions, for example by getting customers to reduce their consumption at critical times or in response to market prices. All of these will be key elements in reducing energy use within existing homes.
5.3 The 2007 Energy White Paper made it a requirement for new meters to come with a real-time display from 2008, with Government expecting everyone to have a smart meter within 10 years. In determining overall policy for existing homes it is important that this opportunity is fully accounted for.
6. The Role That Beama Can Play
6.1 The membership of Beama covers manufacturers of metering and controls, as well as the producers of a range of network solutions and domestic energy using equipment including lighting, ventilation and heat pumps. We also have strong links with other trade bodies involved in the domestic sector such as boiler and appliance manufacturers.
6.2 Not only are we working to support the development and integration of smart metering and advanced controls, we are also actively developing, with members and other key players, a vision of the future for housing. This will look in depth at the technologies required to achieve a more energy efficient housing stock and the part that industry can play to make this happen. This is a proactive step to support Government initiatives in this respect and demonstrates that industry can play a key positive role in reducing UK carbon emissions.
6.3 We would also be willing to help facilitate the development of a simpler and more transparent communications framework between Government and industry to input into policy and regulatory developments. Our experience at the moment is that there is a wide range of groups with similar agendas and overlapping membership, and that a re-evaluation of these groups and their remit could provide a quicker and more effective path to robust solutions.
7. Support from Government
7.1 Our members are not resistant to change, and see the benefits to them of the increasing focus on the efficient use of energy. But in common with all industry they do dislike uncertainty, and their willingness to embrace this agenda will be enhanced where Government defines long-term strategies with clear signals of changes that will be made in the policy and regulatory framework.
7.2 Beama would like to see Part L of the Building Regulations utilised and enforced effectively within existing homes to ensure that all new and replacement heating systems installed work to maximum efficiency. This would include: · Specification of advanced control systems for all boilers installed into existing properties. · A requirement for chemical water treatment when new boilers are installed, particularly into existing pipework systems. The use of 'domestic central heating cleaners' are currently considered 'good practice' but given that independent testing has shown a 6.4% reduction in boiler efficiency without chemical treatment in only three weeks of operation, there is a clear impact on carbon emissions.
7.3 Support for companies willing to invest in new technologies, or for consumers to stimulate market transformation are also welcome interventions. In addition, we believe that a large-scale research programme looking at the actual behaviour of people in existing homes would be of great value to quantify the case for prioritising savings through improved control systems. At present, estimates of savings achievable assume that customers behave in a rational manner in the operation of their heating and hot water, whereas small scale studies and anecdotal evidence suggests that periods of use, and settings for 'comfort' temperatures are far in excess of those assumptions. We believe that such a study would not only provide invaluable data for the development and communication of advanced controls, but may also accelerate the need to focus on improving heating controls by highlighting an even greater potential for carbon savings than is currently assumed.
[1] For example, CERT is targeting 3 million cavity wall insulation measures between 2008 and 2011which is assessed to be the limit of potential capacity within the supply chain. It estimates that the total practical potential for cavity wall insulation in 2008 will be just over 5 million. Increasingly, efforts in this area will need to address customers who are hard to reach or properties that are hard to treat thus reducing the cost effectiveness as a policy approach. [2] For example 'Climate Change: the "citizen's agenda"' by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. [3] Source www.directgov.co.uk. |