3 minute read
Measured Energy Performance
18 TECHNICAL CORNER
www.elmhurstenergyconsultancy.co.uk
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Chris Ricketts, Elmhurst Energy Consultancy Business Manager Now, what does digitalisation mean?
The definition of the digitalisation of retrofit considered for SHDF Wave 2.1 funding encompasses:
1. The usage of smart technology, sensors and monitoring platforms to collect relevant real-world data (from the properties being retrofitted) for the assessment of properties to enable retrofit, or after retrofit for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
2. The usage of building information modelling technology to design retrofit solutions using real world data from the properties being retrofitted.
We have some exciting news! The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently released its guidance for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF): Wave 2.1. And… within their guidance they have indicated that they will provide up to £600K (or up to 2% of capital spend per bid) to assist in the digitalisation of retrofit!
The SHDF fund aims to improve the energy performance of social homes in England and is open for applications from Local Authorities, Combined Authorities and Registered Providers of social housing.
Many of you will be aware of Elmhurst Energy Consultancy’s new service: Measured Energy Performance, which uses Build Test Solutions’ pioneering SmartHTC methodology to accurately measure the performance of properties.
This is particularly useful when addressing the performance gap between design intent and actual performance, as well as measuring the improvement of a property’s energy performance pre and post retrofit improvement works.
How does it work?
Measured Energy Performance works much like the way an RdSAP assessment works; a noninvasive assessment is carried out on the property, recording many of the same inputs. However the assessor also records temperature, energy and climate data which they use to accurately calculate the Heat Transfer Co-efficient (HTC) number, which is used in a bespoke version of Design SAP that can override predicted values.
From this, assessors can get an accurate energy rating for the property. After all, properties ‘live in the wild’ where multiple factors affect their performance.
MEP can therefore be seen as an extra layer to Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) where assessors can offer value to clients by offering an enhanced service that provides a point of comparison, and takes into account real world performance.
How do I apply for digitalisation funding?
funding will be treated as separate from the organisation’s SHDF funding. Therefore it will not affect an organisation’s chances of securing SHDF funding if a bid for digitalisation funding is unsuccessful.
In the competition guidance it is stated that it’s expected that applicants applying for digitalisation support will have an existing digitalisation strategy.
How Elmhurst has been working with assessors
Elmhurst Energy Consultancy has been working in conjunction with Elmhurst Energy Systems to offer training to those interested in providing the Measured Energy Performance service.
So far over 47 Energy Assessors from across the country have attended an Elmhurst Measured Energy Performance course, and we’ve had great feedback from attendees.
The SHDF presents a brilliant opportunity to offer this service to local authorities and aid them in their bids. In the past few years there has been a definite focus on actual performance and assessors with an entrepreneurial streak will be quick to capitalise on this moment.
The self-service model
With the Elmhurst Energy Consultancy’s self-service MEP model, assessors can purchase value ‘bundles’ of HTC calculations and get started conducting assessments!
DEAs simply collect the data from the properties and Consultancy will calculate the HTC score for input into SAP software (overriding predicted values) and produce the report.
How to get started with MEP
If you would like to find out more about MEP or digitalisation, get in touch with the Elmhurst Energy Consultancy team: consultancy@elmhurstenergy.co.uk
