EIBI June 2021

PROMOTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY

JUNE 2021

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In this issue Heat Pumps Energy in Hospitals & Healthcare Data Centre Management Indoor Air Quality CPD Module: Electric Vehicles

Focus on the details Make healthy buildings a reality

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Power loss is not an option Back up for hospitals

Heat pumps and radiators Can they be compatible?

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PROMOTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY

JUNE 2021

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In this issue Heat Pumps Energy in Hospitals & Healthcare Data Centre Management Indoor Air Quality CPD Module: Electric Vehicles

Focus on the details Make healthy buildings a reality

Power loss is not an option Back up for hospitals

Contents

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Heat pumps and radiators Can they be compatible?

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JUNE 2021

21 FEATURES

A major contract will cut Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s energy bills by £1.8m. And vital humidification units are installed at a London clinic (24)

10 Heat Pumps

Interest in the wider use of heat pumps in commercial buildings is soaring and is likely grow even more thanks to new low-carbon targets set by the Prime Minister, according to James Cooper Geoff Egginton explains how hot water storage and renewable energy from heat pumps can combine to provide a solution to the conundrum of how we heat our homes (12) Tony Lathey outlines how the UK’s energy supply network may have to change and move with the times as heat pumps and other LCTs become the norm (13)

22

30

Ian Bradley discusses how the combination of radiators alongside the latest heat pump technology needs urgently reassessing (14)

Energy in Hospitals & Healthcare

27 Data Centre Management

David Craig believes that liquid cooling of servers is the most energy-efficient way to drive the data centre industry forward as energy use in the sector continues to surge As we become more environmentally conscious as a society, it is of paramount importance that we push for more sustainable business practices, believes Jack Bedell-Pearce (28) Learn what is happening in your data centre and don’t make any assumptions. Chris Wellfair looks at the challenge of improving energy efficiency (29)

30 Indoor Air Quality

Mark Bouldin believes that to make healthy buildings a reality building owners and managers must focus more closely on the details of occupancy

Power failure is not an option for a hospital. Paul Brickman explores how hospitals can ensure that their back up power systems are reliable should the worst happen

Tom Wodcke explains how improving ventilation in social housing is key to improving indoor air quality and so resident health (32)

REGULARS 06 News Update

21 Products in Action

Extension of the scope of energy performance certificates while International Energy Agency roadmap emphasises energy efficiency

Sophisticated lighting control at Chinese airports and at Cambridge Science Park while a heating upgrade has taken place at Canary Wharf

26 ESTA Viewpoint

09 The Warren Report They’ve been around for 13 years but the Energy Performance Certificate may no longer be the most suitable method of cutting a home’s energy spend

16 New Products New for the energy manager this month is a range of vacuum degassers.

Also of interest is a pulse counter to turn legacy meters into smart meters

17 The Fundamental Series: CPD Learning How does the drive to a world of electric vehicles affect the demand for electricity and how our infrastructure will cope? Dr Richard Bujko looks into the future

With COP26 coming up fast ESTA will be redoubling its efforts to get the energy efficiency message out to trade associations and British business.

Mervyn Pilley reports

34 Talking Heads Paul Atherton believes that heat pumps may play a smaller role in the future heating of our homes.

Alternative technologies, such as microwave hating are beginning to find traction

Follow us, ‘like us’ or visit us online to keep up to date with all the latest energy news and events www.eibi.co.uk JUNE 2021 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 03

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Editor’s Opinion

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Passport to progress

S

o are the days of the Energy Performance

a long-term retrofit roadmap that identifies future

Certificate numbered? Its role has come

decarbonisation measures, along with links to

under scrutiny by the influential House of

contractors and finance options.

Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

EPCs exist to provide information regarding

It does appear that they would be inclusive, with benefits for local authorities and landlords,

the likely fuel bills in a particular home. And give

retrofit and energy professionals as well as

guidance as to how these might be reduced in future.

financial institutions, valuers and surveyors. The

That is precisely their current usage. But they are

GFI states that “providing clear, accessible and

now at odds with the future direction of travel of the

affordable information that is bespoke to individual

UK government. When it comes to future carbon

buildings can also deliver benefits along the retrofit

saving measures for a home an EPC won’t call for

supply chain. BRPs can help homeowners make

the installation of a heat pump because of the huge

informed decisions, find funding and connect with

investment needed. So with the Government urging

suppliers and service providers, making retrofits

600,000 heat pumps a year to be installed by 2028

simpler. Retrofit professionals can make energy

we are heading in two different directions.

efficiency improvements that complement existing

The Environmental Audit Committee have

technologies, materials and construction of a

recognised that EPCs are possibly now outdated and

property. Lenders can better assess risks to their

would like them replaced with Building Renovation

portfolios and provide tailored products to customers,

Passports which it believes “set a clear pathway to

while accessing the data needed to develop new

decarbonise homes.”

products and services. Local authorities can build a

The Green Finance Institute has also produced

better understanding of local housing stock, enabling

an impressive report making the case for Building

them to implement effective retrofit programmes at a

Renovation Passports (though I’m not so sure that

local level.”

BuRPs would be a suitable acronym). So how would

It is certainly time for discussion around how we

they work? GFI says that they are digital tools to help

might measure how to decarbonise our homes. EPCs

property owners access decision-useful information

and heat pumps just don’t work.

to retrofit their home. They would provide information on the current energy performance of a property, including EPC data and climate information

MANAGING EDITOR

and resiliency. Also included are past renovations,

Mark Thrower

THIS MONTH’S COVER STORY A versatile lighting control system from CP Electronics’ RAPID range has been installed at Buildings I & II at the Cambridge Science Park.

The project had to provide lighting controls for the two buildings including the toilets, atrium and the multi-storey car park. The concept for the offices was for a DALI fully addressable system which included open plan offices with presence detection and daylight harvesting. The toilets required presence detection to ensure energy saving, whilst the atrium required full lighting control that could be manually controlled. Finally, the car park needed a fully monitored system including emergency test and monitoring system.

See page 21 for more details Photo courtesy of CP Electronics

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Published by: Pinede Publishing Ltd 16-18 Hawkesyard Hall, Armitage Park, Nr. Rugeley, Staffordshire WS15 1PU ISSN 0969 885X This issue includes photographs provided and paid for by suppliers

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04 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | JUNE 2021

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news update For all the latest news stories visit www.eibi.co.uk

China makes 2030 pledge China has pledged to bring its total greenhouse gas emissions to a peak by 2030, and many industrial sectors are expected to plateau or decline as early as 2025. However, on present trends, carbon dioxide emissions from the internet sector could continue climbing to 310m tonnes a year by 2035.

Last month, a study by the Rhodium Group think-tank revealed that China’s total 2019 GHGs exceeded those from the whole of the OECD for the first time, with the country’s per capita emissions also now close to those of western nations. China’s CO2 emissions rose 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with pre-pandemic levels.

However, the Chinese state has announced some initial steps, creating an escalating crackdown on the activity. It is looking to the sea to help cut the cost of cooling data centres housing powerful computers and servers, and also to reduce consumption of traditional energy sources in a sector known for its high electricity needs.

This followed the announcement that one of the world’s largest holders of bitcoins, Tesla, will no longer accept the cryptocurrency for purchases of its vehicles, ostensibly because of the emissions impact of mining in China. Three quarters of the emissions from this activity now come from China.

INITIATIVE WILL SAVE BUSINESSES OVER £1BN

Extension of commercial certificates The government is at last set to mandate the display of annual energy certificates in all larger commercial and industrial buildings.

It has announced its intention to limit these requirements initially only to offices over 1,000m2. But it intends during this decade to expand these requirements to all types of commercial and industrial buildings, also probably widening eligibility to smaller sized buildings.

While this extension would increase the absolute number of buildings affected 13-fold, these larger buildings already account for 53 per cent of the sector’s energy usage.

There is as yet no timetable setting out when any of these alterations will be introduced. When completed, this initiative would be saving British businesses annually over £1bn at 2021 prices and reduce carbon emissions by 8m tonnes.

The policy purports to be modelled on an Australian scheme which has delivered 34 per cent savings in 10 years. It bears a striking resemblance to the current requirements of the European Energy Performance of Buildings directive.

At present, the only formal energy

Cash boost for new technologies The green technology required to help the UK meet its climate targets has been given a £166.5m cash injection, seven months on from the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

The multi-million pound investment, awarded to innovators, businesses, academics and heavy industry right across the UK, will accelerate the delivery of the technologies needed to further drive Britain’s climate change ambitions, while creating over 60,000 jobs across the UK. The funding package will help develop carbon capture, greenhouse gas removal and hydrogen, while also helping find solutions to decarbonise the UK’s polluting sectors including manufacturing, steel, energy and waste.

measurement of a commercial building is the energy performance certificates (EPC) required when a building alters occupancy. This, however, measures only theoretical consumption and emission levels. It does though make recommendations as to how improvements can be improved, as does the existing Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme– which initially was intended to provide sectoral league tables of comparative performance.

The new scheme is being created to permit this measure of relative performance within a sector to be reintroduced, and to base that rating largely upon actual energy usage.

This is just like the existing Display Energy Certificate system, operating

since 2008 in public sector buildings.

However, unlike DECs, there appears to be no intention to require auditors to provide recommendations regarding steps to take to make further improvements.

At present, the Government seem equivocal as to whether the existence of an EPC - valid for ten years – could obviate any need to provide any DEC-like public information about actual energy usage and hence carbon emissions. This is information of likely rather greater value for public policy purposes.

This initiative comes twelve years after former Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to expand display energy certificates to commercial buildings, and the former business secretary Greg Clarke unsuccessfully introduced legislation to achieve precisely this policy (see EiBI March 2009). It follows consistent lobbying over 15 years from the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

The Government is seeking views as to whether the reporting statistics should also cover waste, water usage and air quality standards. None of these are currently required for either EPCs or DECs.

Retailers step up with emissions reductions Leading retailers have slashed carbon emissions by 49 per cent since 2005, far exceeding the target of a 25 per cent absolute reduction, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The reduction forms part of the BRC’s Climate Action Roadmap whereby over 70 leading retailers have pledged to help the UK retail industry and its supply chain reach Net Zero by 2040.

Reaching Net Zero will require a collective effort by the whole retail industry. The BRC has announced that Steve Murrells, Co-op Group CEO, will chair the steering group of the Climate Action Roadmap that aims to drive forward these targets.

The steering group includes CEOs and senior executives of some of the country’s best-known retailers, including Sainsbury’s, Iceland, IKEA, Mountain Warehouse, Dunelm and Feelunique and will establish and oversee the strategy and progress

in getting the UK retail industry to Net Zero by 2040. This work is supported by five partnerships – one for each focus area of the Roadmap – with Crown Estate, DP World, Google, IBM and PwC. Retailers have pledged to decarbonise stores by 2030 and deliveries by 2035; the roadmap will focus on the key challenge of working with suppliers to ensure that products sold are also net zero

by 2040. However, the latest data shows that while carbon emissions from transport fell 43 per cent when controlled for growth, just off the 45 per cent target, absolute emissions fell by just 15 per cent. To reduce transport emissions in the future, the BRC has recently commissioned research under the Climate Action Roadmap aimed at helping the industry rapidly decarbonise.

06 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | JUNE 2021

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news update For all the latest news stories visit www.eibi.co.uk

INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY ROADMAP

IN BRIEF

Efficiency ‘key pillar’ to decarbonise

New prisons cut energy demand

The International Energy Agency’s new roadmap to net zero by 2050 has identified energy efficiency as its first “key pillar of decarbonisation,” with “behavioural change” as the next greatest priority.

To achieve net zero by 2050 with global equity, the amount of energy used by the global economy will need to fall 8 per cent by 2050 - despite a doubling of GDP, a population rise of more than 2bn people and the provision of universal energy access by 2030.

The IEA maintains this roadmap will deliver “a net increase of nearly 9m jobs.” In addition, there would also be another 16m jobs created “by changes in spending on more efficient appliances, electric and fuel cell vehicles, and building retrofits and energy-efficient construction.”

This brings the total net increase to 25m jobs.

The roadmap underscores that this decade is pivotal to reaching net-zero by mid-century. “We need to put emissions into sharp decline in the coming years through strong and credible energy policies,” warns Fatih Birol, IEA executive director.

The IEA emphasises that energy efficiency measures are “frontloaded” in the roadmap, playing a big role over the next decade. It includes “immediate and rapid improvements” in the world’s building stock, resulting from largescale programmes in which around 2.5 per cent of buildings in richer nations are retrofitted each year

Four new prisons being built in England will use heat pumps, efficient lighting systems and thousands of solar panels, to reduce energy demand by half and cut carbon emissions by at least 85 per cent compared to prisons already under construction.

The new designs will learn from the construction of HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, and the new jail in Glen Parva, Leicestershire, which are being constructed more sustainably than existing prisons using recycled materials and incorporating green energy.

until 2050. The current retrofit rate is way below 1 per cent.

There would be a 2 per cent annual rate of retrofits in emerging and developing countries. By 2050 more than 85 per cent of world buildings would be zero-carbon ready, meaning they would be entirely energy efficient and ready to be powered by renewables. Many nations’ “green recovery” plans have included significant sums of money for home retrofits. However, as the UK government’s recently abandoned Green Homes Grant has made clear, such programmes require careful coordination to minimise disruption and ensure uptake, something the IEA warns

about in its report.

The agency states categorically that any delay to the 2.5 per cent annual retrofitting plan “would be almost impossible to catch up, placing further strain on the power sector and pushing up fossil fuel demand.” The implications of this are explored in its “delayed retrofit case”.

Just under 40 per cent of the emissions reductions in the roadmap involve adopting technologies that require little involvement from the general public, the IEA says. The remainder require at least some participation from individuals.

Around three-quarters of emissions reductions from behavioural changes rely upon governments introducing policies and developing infrastructure, such as new highspeed railways to encourage cleaner transport options.

Other targets that require citizen engagement are phasing out petrol and diesel cars in all large cities by 2030, and discouraging flying to the extent that business and long-haul leisure air travel does not exceed 2019 levels by 2050. The remaining behavioural emissions savings need to come from voluntary changes to save energy, mainly in reducing profligacy in people’s homes.

This report has added status and impact, because uniquely it is created by an intergovernmental agency long caricatured as the official mouthpiece of the fossil fuel industry.

Decarbonisation ‘can help propel UK recovery’ The CBI has unveiled a new UK economic strategy that involves decarbonisation, innovation and ‘levelling up’ that could be worth £700bn in commercial growth for UK companies. As part of this plan the CBI is calling for Government reform to regulation to incentivise investment towards these goals to allow a greater role for firms in the health and skills of employees.

Tony Danker (above), CBI director general outlined findings from a new,

landmark economic plan seeking to establish a competitive, dynamic and future-focussed UK following the shocks of Brexit and COVID-19 and in the run up to COP26 in Glasgow.

The new plan ‘Seize the moment: how can business transform the UK economy?’ is the result of months of research and business consultation.

It identifies six ways to transform the economy after the crisis to realise a decade of better economic growth and social solidarity. One of these is the goal of a decarbonised economy, winning the global race to net-zero.

For example, the UK could capture £8bn in additional revenues from

hydrogen electrolyser production.

The strategy is designed to complement the UK Government’s Plan for Growth. And it sets out how government’s ambitions can be delivered by businesses across the UK, with concrete recommendations for different sectors and for individual firms. It outlines tangible commercial prizes borne from policy ambitions including decarbonisation and skills investment. And it directly responds to the UK Government’s plan with suggested improvements and additional reforms – specifically around regulation, levelling up, and skills policy.

Power sector investment soars Global power sector investment is set to increase by around 5 per cent in 2021 to more than $820bn, its highest ever level, after staying flat in 2020, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.

Renewables are dominating investment in new power generation capacity and are expected to account for 70 per cent of the total this year. And that money now goes further than ever in financing clean electricity, with a dollar spent on solar PV deployment today resulting in four times more electricity than ten years ago, thanks to greatly improved technology and falling costs.

Schools’ energy costs increase Expenditure on energy costs by local authority-maintained schools in England has increased by 6.5 per cent per pupil over the past five years, according to new analysis of government data by eLight, a “Light-as-a-Service” (LaaS) business.

The average annual spend per pupil increased from £74.56 in 2014-15 to £79.42 in 2019-20, according to the latest data available.

Yorkshire & the Humber and the North East are the only regions where schools have collectively reduced how much they spend on energy per pupil, cutting expenditure by 4.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. Every other region of England increased its average energy expenditure per pupil, with schools in Inner London doing so by a huge 23.5 per cent.

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news update For all the latest news stories visit www.eibi.co.uk

Big brands call for green pensions Fifty companies, including major brands and organisations such as IKEA, EY, Octopus Group, Brewdog, TED, WWF and Oxfam, have signed up to work with their pension providers or trustees to secure a green pension and support the growing call for all providers to commit to net-zero emission targets in the lead up to COP26.

The Make My Money Matter (MMMM) campaign has teamed up with Count Us In and launched the Green Pensions Charter, which will campaign to ensure pensions are invested more sustainably.

MMMM said the campaign was calling on all businesses across the UK to sign up to the Green Pensions Charter and harness the power of their company pension schemes in the fight against climate change.

Concerns raised over UK housing The Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on Energy Efficiency of Existing Homes does little to alleviate concerns that sufficient action is being done to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions of the UK’s housing stock, states the EAC. The Government has stated that the Heat and Buildings Strategy is due for imminent publication where it is anticipated energy efficiency measures will be unveiled. However, the EAC’s report raises concern that the Government’s estimates on the true cost of decarbonisation of existing housing stock had been significantly underestimated. The Government has explained its estimate of between £35-£65bn is based on as many homes as possible to reach EPC C, but fails to offer a cost for all UK homes.

The Government has also admitted that it did not consult stakeholders before it rolled out the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and acknowledges that there were problems with issuing vouchers. The EAC remains of the view that a replacement scheme is needed, to be announced and funded in the next Spending Review, that is fit for purpose, will endure for several years, and be free of bureaucratic obstacles.

CASH TO ENSURE INEFFICIENT PROPERTIES ARE NOT RENTED

Help for LAs to enforce regulations Every local housing authority in England or Wales is now eligible to obtain an extra £100,000 from Government from July 26, to ensure that private sector landlords do not continue renting out energyinefficient properties in either the commercial or residential sector.

In total, over £2m is being provided “to help build capacity and capability, to enforce the MEES Regulations in their region.” This would be particularly pertinent for those local authorities “with clear financial needs.”

These regulations have been in force since April 2018. They ban private sector landlords from letting out properties that have Energy Performance Certificates with F or G ratings. Fines of up to £5,000 can be imposed.

However, enforcement rates to date have been variable, and in many local authorities, non-existent. The Government has become increasingly concerned at the paucity of initial penalty notices issued, intended to prompt remedial action from culpable landlords. The number of actual fines issued is regarded as less important, even though these can provide revenue for councils.

Arguments about poor enforcement of compliance with legal energy efficiency standards – whether for new build or refurbishment – have grown increasingly intense. While EPCs are now automatically provided for almost all building sales, it is clear that many properties are still being let out without any EPC survey being available to prospective tenants.

The Government has made it clear that they also intend to increase

minimum EPC standards in ensuing years, to B for non-residential and C for residential buildings. So the new money is specifically intended to “support local authorities with the introduction of a formulated approach for enforcing requirements”.

The Midlands Energy Hub is managing this scheme on behalf of BEIS. All applications from local authorities for this extra funding should be submitted by July 2.

UK’s green jobs plans ‘lag behind other G7 countries’ The UK government’s green jobs and investment plans lag far behind most G7 countries, according to a report by the TUC. The analysis shows the government’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution is just a fraction of the investment pledged

by France, Canada, Italy, Germany and USA – with only Japan scoring worse.

The union body says the report reveals the potential to do much more to expand green jobs and meet vital climate commitments.

The TUC is calling on government to seize the G7 opportunity by allocating £85bn for emergency green infrastructure.

The commitment would move the UK up into third position in the G7 league table, creating 1m quality green jobs and demonstrating real climate leadership, says the union body.

The report supports previous research showing that with extra recovery investment the government could create 1.24m green jobs in the immediate term, while retooling and decarbonising workplaces to defend existing jobs.

The TUC report shows that while the UK Treasury is barely investing £180

per person on green recovery and jobs, the USA is planning to allocate over £2,960 per person on green recovery, jobs and programmes like public transport, electric vehicles and energy efficiency retrofits. Green recovery investment per person is £1,390 in Italy, £600 in Germany and £870 in Canada.

Scaled by population, the UK green investment plans are just 26 per cent of France, 21 per cent of Canada, 13 per cent of Italy and 6 per cent of the USA. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady (pictured) said: “Every area needs good green jobs, close to home. We can revitalise towns and communities that have lost traditional industries, and make better jobs available to the millions in insecure jobs on poverty pay.

“The UK is falling well behind the rest of the G7 in the race to benefit from net zero industry.”

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06.21

THE WARREN REPORT

Andrew Warren is chairman of the British Energy Efficiency Federation

Could we see the end of the EPC? They’ve been around for 13 years but the Energy Performance Certificate soon may no longer be the most suitable method of demonstrating where householders can reduce their energy spend

T

he days of the gas boiler being the means by which most British buildings are heated are numbered. At least that’s what the Government would like.

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is one of the most important House of Commons committees. Following a series of public hearings into progress with energy efficiency in housing - including an unprecedented session involving Ministers from the Treasury, Housing, and Business & Energy departments - it has published a magisterial report.

Acknowledging that the UK had by common consent some of the worst energy performing buildings in Europe, the EAC made a series of recommendations concerning how policies and practices should be improved. And one of its main areas of examination was the humble Energy Performance Certificate.

Already half of all homes in England and Wales have acquired an EPC. In their 13 years of existence, EPCs have become the accepted means by which the relative energy performance of each buildingcommercial as well as residential- can be measured. This fulfils that old business school dictum: if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

EPCs are designed predominantly to provide information regarding the likely fuel bills in a particular home. And give guidance as to how these might be reduced in future. That is precisely their current usage.

Currently, it is the only way commonly available that provides specific recommendations for change on energy usage available, based on each individual home.

If, as anticipated, there is to be a major drive towards improving each building’s carbon bubble on the road to net zero emissions by 2050, an agreed mechanism like this plays an absolutely vital role.

Today, the vast majority (86 per cent) of homes are heated by natural gas.

Recommendations for improving how the home can be heated more efficiently obviously include insulation, glazing, better controls- and a more efficient gas boiler.

Of the 1.6m high efficiency gas condensing boilers installed each year, the vast majority are replacing traditional elderly gas-guzzling boilers. But still there are 5m of these in use.

And it is why there have been very, very few occasions when an EPC has been issued stressing the need to replace an existing gas boiler with a heat pump. For a start, the capital cost of the latter is several times that of a gas boiler.

However, according to the official Government calculations underlying the ill-fated English Green Homes Grant scheme, a ground source heat pump is apparently deemed by them to be 17 times more valuable in carbon saving terms in the average house than installing triple glazed windows, 23 times more than installing loft insulation or heating controls, and 39 times more than draught proofing.

As the relevant Government note wryly observes, “these carbon savings do not reflect the cost of installing each measure”.

But adds blithely that “more generally, a larger heat pump can be installed if insulation levels are low!”

Ambitious but realistic strategy A long-promised Heat and Buildings Strategy is due from the Government this summer. The EAC has told Government this must “set an ambitious but realistic strategy for owner occupiers to achieve minimum EPC C standards.”

Unlike the Government, it recognises that the current structure of the EPC simply won’t deliver the 20-fold increases in heat pumps promised by the Prime

‘It will inevitably have serious repercussions for those undertaking energy performance certificate surveys’

Minister within seven years. Possibly why the EAC is also describing EPCs as “outdated”, and wants them replaced “with Building Renovation Passports, which set a clear pathway to decarbonise homes.”

The suggestion has been floated in The Daily Telegraph that “electricity bills could be slashed to persuade homeowners to abandon gas boilers by 2035 under green plans”. It adds: “Nearly a quarter of consumers’ bills currently cover taxes to pay for policies, including subsidies for renewable energy and fuel vouchers for poorer households”- a reference to the Energy Company Obligation.

“Ministers believe these additional costs are acting as a major barrier to get people to heat their homes on low-carbon electricity alternatives such as heat pumps, at a time when gas prices are lower. The government wants heat pumps to replace 600,000 gas boilers every year from 2028, and will announce that costs will be removed from electricity in the coming years in its upcoming heat and buildings strategy.”

The problem that policy makers face is that for several decades building regulations have been written on the basis that gas heating is the default preferred means of heating homes. Apart from studio and one-bedroom flats, the economics of electric heating have not stacked up.

Indeed, the main pressure in favour of electric heating has come from buy-to-let landlords who didn’t want the hassle of having to organise an annual gas safety survey for every property they own. But even that “unique selling point” has now vanished; since April 2021 it is also mandatory for landlords to provide an electricity safety survey too.

If this tax change does happen, it will inevitably have serious repercussions for those undertaking energy performance certificate surveys.

It seems that the role traditionally associated with EPCs - of showing householders how to decrease expenditure relating to fuel bills - may yet be placed firmly in reverse.  JUNE 2021 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 09

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Heat Pumps

James Cooper is business development manager for heat pumps at Lochinvar

Another boost for heat pumps Interest in the wider use of heat pumps in commercial buildings is soaring and is likely grow even more thanks to new low-carbon targets set by the Prime Minister, according to James Cooper

B

oris Johnson placed heat pump technology at the heart of his strategy for a ‘green industrial revolution’ to help power the UK’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and help deliver a net zero economy by 2050.

There are several specific targets for the built environment in the proposals including wider deployment of low carbon heating solutions, better re-use of building materials, and higher standards of insulation. The government is also pressing ahead with plans to end the sale of domestic gas boilers by 2033 and remains committed to a huge scaling up of heat pump use.

The Prime Minister had already challenged the industry to be installing 600,000 units a year by 2028, which is a major step up from current levels. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) had already set a target of 1m a year by the 2030s towards an eventual total of 19m that it sees as essential if the UK is to achieve its zero carbon ambitions.

The industry is clearly willing to get behind this strategy, but there is a considerable skills gap that will need to be closed to ensure there are enough trained people to carry out the work to the required standard so that this highly energy efficient technology can achieve its carbon lowering potential. Industry estimates suggest more than 17,000 new heat pump installers will be needed over the next decade if the government’s targets are to be met.

Heat pumps can achieve CoPs comfortably above four and five depending on the application and climatic conditions, but only if they are properly designed, installed, commissioned, and maintained.

There are also particular technical challenges around designing heating systems that operate at the low temperatures produced by heat pumps and this is not widely understood – even by many already in the industry.

the system capacity to maximise efficiency. It also minimises legionella risk because it does not store domestic hot water.

Integrating technologies in this way requires good control strategies and a thorough commissioning process to ensure the various parts of the system work in correct sequence. The system should be set up to ensure the renewable/low carbon technologies are the first to respond to any call for heating and hot water; with gas-fired boilers only there to provide back-up.

Integrating heat pumps with other technologies requires a good controls strategy

Extending operating life

While the political focus may be on improving the energy performance of homes, there is potentially even greater benefits to be had from increasing the emphasis on commercial buildings and heat networks that can supply multiple facilities.

The technical challenge in commercial buildings is often very different, but the rewards are potentially even greater. Many commercial buildings experience short peak demand periods when high volumes of hot water are required – leisure centres and hotels being particular examples. This makes them ideal for a heat pump solution.

Demand for ‘hybrid’ systems At Lochinvar, we are experiencing increased demand for ‘hybrid’ systems where heat pumps are combined with high efficiency ‘conventional’ technologies like gas-fired boilers and water heaters to improve operating performance where a fully renewable system was not an option either for financial or technical reasons.

‘Heat pumps can achieve CoPs above four or five depending on the application’ This ‘hybrid’ or integrated approach is proving particularly effective in retrofit projects because they avoid the potentially disruptive and costly process of replacing other system components.

Heat pumps can also be installed as part of multi-valent systems where energy is gathered from several separate sources which can include other renewable technologies, such as solar thermal. In such a system, the use of a properly sized thermal store becomes the critical element and allows the design engineer to provide an extremely flexible, but high output solution.

The thermal store, effectively, acts as a large, low resistance header that can accept heat from multiple sources. This smooths out

Hybrids reduce running costs and extend the operating life of the equipment by only using the gasfired products in back-up mode. This is another key to reducing carbon.

If you have to replace products on a regular basis, you will increase your overall carbon footprint significantly.

Heat pumps could also play an even bigger part in reducing carbon emissions through their use in distributed heat networks for homes, public sector buildings, shops, offices, sports facilities, hospitals, and universities – so also delivering an important social welfare benefit.

There are around 14,000 such networks in the UK, providing heating, hot water and/or cooling to almost half a million consumers.

Since they aggregate heating and cooling supplies across a neighbourhood or entire district, these networks can unlock otherwise inaccessible large-scale renewable and recovered heat sources, such as waste heat and thermal energy from rivers – ideal for capture and use by heat pumps.

The potential for rapid expansion of this market once we move back into more normal economic conditions is extremely exciting and gives us a fighting chance of achieving the Prime Minister’s challenging low carbon goal. 

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Heat Pumps

Geoff Egginton is director at Advance Appliances

Heat pumps and hot water Geoff Egginton explains how hot water storage and renewable energy from heat pumps can combine to provide a solution to the conundrum of how we heat our homes

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lans are afoot to ban the use of natural gas in new houses from 2025, and although this may not be completely settled it will probably become more the norm in the near future. The gas industry, representing the gas boiler manufacturers and others, is looking at ways of putting a greener gas into the network (i.e. hydrogen) although this isn’t an overnight switch as existing boilers will need some modification. New hydrogen boilers that can be used with the existing gas supply are now available and will probably become more common place in the near future. Hydrogen boilers are much cleaner than the current oil or gas burning appliances.

Hydrogen isn’t a quick fix. If the fossil fuel ban on new homes does come into force within the next five years a more probable scenario is a mix of energy provision and perhaps the adaption of hybrid technology.

The Government has shown strong support for heat pump technology and this looks likely to become favoured in new build or major refurbishments. With the greening of the electricity grid accelerating as new wind farms come on stream it signals a move to demand led pricing to enable householders to take advantage of economies of scale in power generation.

There are three options – hydrogen, heat pumps and smart electric tariffs and software to reflect consumer usage.

The problem with electricity, unlike gas, is that it cannot be stored easily or cheaply. Electric batteries are available, but they are expensive and space hungry. Hot water storage, on the other hand, already the only choice for heat pump technology (heat pumps produce hot water not electricity) is the perfect “battery” for storing energy from electricity in the form of hot water. It can be used for heating and hot water. In addition

Adding storage without an expensive boiler swap can create a hybrid with solar PV or solar thermal input

Combi boilers in favour

‘It’s essential to use a cylinder designed specifically to work with heat pump systems’

As far as the built environment is concerned, it is accepted that there has been a large displacement of hot water cylinders over the last few decades in favour of combination boilers. Although combi boilers cannot compete with the flow rates from storage, they are easy to install and free up space in the airing cupboard where the cylinder used to be. More recently, modern mains pressure storage units, usually in an attractive appliance type finish, can be located anywhere on the property, lofts, garages or outbuildings are ideal spaces.

Hot water cylinders can be easily incorporated into combi boiler systems to add renewables to an existing combi boiler installation.

Adding storage without an expensive boiler swap can create a hybrid with solar PV or solar thermal input.

All cylinders placed on the market have to meet minimum energy rating standards. Cylinder manufacturers are obliged to reproduce this information on their web sites. With electric water heating ratings can be enhanced with the addition of Smart Systems that learn consumer behaviours and modify heat-up periods accordingly.

Other hybrid systems with multiple inputs from various fuel sources can be designed around thermal store units – storing energy from different inputs for heating

software and smart tariffs can be worked in tandem to make it more economically acceptable. After all, electricity at point of use can be four times the cost of gas kW for kW.

and hot water draw offs when required.

Heat pumps harvest energy from the ground, from water or from the air. They are not gas boiler replacements and have much less power.

For new build or new systems the best way to utilise electricity is through heat pump technology.

Heat pumps actually multiply the power fed into them and offer energy outputs greater than inputs.

It is accepted that the installation can be disruptive and is easier to carry out on major refurbishments and new build. Once a heat pump system is correctly specified and installed it works extremely well in modern highly insulated properties.

It is essential that a hot water cylinder designed to work with and compliment heat pump technology is used. Do not specify standard cylinders, they just don’t work. Heat pump cylinders will be labelled and promoted as such, with different heat exchange mechanisms able to convert heat pump outputs to useful stored hot water. Getting this right at the start will offer long life heating systems that will satisfy the needs of the consumer and tick all the environmental boxes, too.

It may also be necessary to add storage to the heating system in the form of buffer stores. These act as accumulators to prevent “shorting” as heat pumps work more effectively with low return temperatures. In addition, they can store energy and make up for any initial shortfall from the heat pump.

This is not the article to expound on Government green initiatives that seem to come and go. However, it can be said with a fair degree of certainty that the UK Government is firmly behind heat pump technology. Watch for the announcement of the Hot Water Association labelling initiative so consultants and specifiers will be able to quickly identify suitable heat pump compatible cylinders. 

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Heat Pumps

Tony Lathey is air-to-water heat pump specialist for Panasonic

The power of three Tony Lathey outlines how the UK’s energy supply network may have to change and move with the times as heat pumps and other LCTs become the norm

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hilst Low Carbon Technology (LCT) is the future and is being pushed by the UK Government for wider adoption, there will be challenges ahead on the road to ‘de-carbonisation.’ One of those challenges is the UK’s use of single phase electricity in our homes. It’s looking increasingly likely that the UK’s energy supply network needs to change to meet de-carbonisation targets.

There are many reasons why the UK is often characterised as the lone man of Europe. That said, one area that definitely sets us apart - as if we needed anymore - is our use of single-phase electricity supplies for much of our domestic building stock. This contrasts with our continental neighbours for whom three-phase supplies are the norm. For almost a century (as long as electricity has been available in our homes) our use of single-phase electricity hasn’t been a problem.

But as we aim for an LCT future, the electricity load demands we place on our existing supply infrastructure is going up not down, and the shortcomings of using single phase are becoming apparent.

The UK’s distribution network is designed as a three-phase system from the transmission grid through to a local transformer. From here, a 230/415V supply runs under the road, or in rural areas overhead, with each property fed by a single phase from the three-phase supply.

On housing developments, for example, houses are connected in rotation between the phases: house one on phase 1, the second on phase 2, the third on phase 3 and then the fourth on phase 1 etc.

One of the drawbacks of this system is that a single phase is generally rated at 60/80 amps. When the grid system was designed, UK homes were drawing relatively little current and a 60/80-amp supply and rotating the phases was a perfectly

Three phase power supply could become standard on new build homes to accommodate the growing use of heat pumps

adequate system. The situation has completely changed with the growing adoption of LCTs and in the case of EVs, their charging demands. The most common types of EV charger are limited to 32A per phase, which gives an effective limit of 7.4kW on a single-phase supply.

As we all know with more electric vehicles on the road these demands will only increase.

More efficient three phase A three-phase system (as currently used in large parts of Europe) is considered more efficient than single phase. In a typical installation, appliances and circuits are assigned to different phases so

‘The way we receive our electricity supply in the future will need to be addressed’ that each load is balanced. Also, larger loads such as EV charging points, heat pumps and cooking appliances etc, are often three phase versions which draw equal power from each phase.

Given the above, many UK heat pump manufacturers only currently supply heat pumps with single phase options. However,

Panasonic, a global manufacturer and supplier to most EU countries where 3-phase is standard, offers both three phase and single phase for much of its heat pump range, such as the Aquarea 12kW T-Cap option. This offers customers more flexibility and choice to help with the increased demand on power supplies, particularly where high demand from applications that require stability and security such as Heat Pump and EV car chargers.

According to the Energy Network Association, adapting to three phase supplies “will facilitate greater adoption of innovative, low carbon technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicle (EV) charging.”

When installing LCT such as an air source heat pump or EV charging, there is a legal requirement to ensure the equipment is technically compliant for connection. Some air source heat pumps, like the smaller kW output single phase Panasonic Aquarea Heat Pumps and their three phase models, can be connected without having to notify the DNO (District Network Operator). However, for larger kW single phase and EV chargers, a request must be made to the DNO before connection of the equipment.

At this point the DNO will advise if the equipment can be connected or if the property requires an upgrade before connection can take place.

All of this can take time and delay project progress.

As the UK Government has set ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2050 and more recently (in April 2021) announcing its commitment to reducing emissions by 2035 by at least 78 per cent compared to 1990 levels more needs to be done.

One DNO, Western Power Distribution, has recently announced that all new build developments in their network area should have 3-phase as standard – Western Power is one of the UK’s largest DNOs and others are looking to follow their lead.

In conclusion, if the UK are to meet the UK Government net zero targets by 2050, and more LCT devices are introduced to meet these targets in our everyday lives, the way developers build our future homes and receive our electricity supply will need to be addressed.  JUNE 2021 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 13

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Heat Pumps

Ian Bradley is managing director at MHS Radiators

The radiator debate is over Ian Bradley discusses how the combination of radiators alongside the latest heat pump technology needs urgently reassessing

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o achieve the Government’s target of 600,000 heat pumps installed every year by 2028, a great deal of work needs to be done in the heating industry. This is acute when considering how heat pumps, which utilise lower flow temperatures, integrate with heat emitters in new and existing properties. Here, greater understanding is required across the industry, from consultants, developers and housebuilders, to contractors and installers.

With the proliferation of heat pumps set to increase, the design of heating systems will need to change significantly. Flow temperatures from heat pumps are notably lower, ranging from 45oC to 55oC, compared to the higher levels of 75oC to 80oC typically associated with condensing gas boilers. The reason for this reduction is that a heat pump’s efficiency is optimised for working at low water temperatures, in conjunction with low temperature heat distribution systems. As hot water flow temperatures increase, heat pump efficiency (Coefficient of Performance) falls.

When considering the options for combining a low water temperature heat source (such as a heat pump) with a heat emitter, underfloor heating (UFH) is often seen as the first port of call. Although this type of installation can be well suited for use in new build properties, in retrofit applications, which are often poorly insulated, UFH struggles to maintain a comfortable temperature for occupants.

In both new and existing

Low water volumes and high heat conducting capabilities make aluminium radiators suitable for use with heat pumps

properties, radiators are once again proving to be key players in the market, with their dominance set to continue as the emitter of choice. Not only have they proven to be simple to install, thanks to a familiarity throughout the industry, but they are also available in an extensive variety of sizes while still allowing heat pumps to offer the improved efficiencies required.

Steel panel radiators Traditionally, the vast majority of existing properties in the UK will have been fitted with steel panel radiators and, indeed, a recent study by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)1 discovered that the most common models installed were Type 10, 11, 20, 21 and 22.

However, in more recent years, there has been significant growth in high-performance aluminium radiators, which feature very low water volumes compared to their steel panel counterparts, and benefit

Fig 1. Relative heat up times for aluminium vs. steel radiators

from far higher heat conducting capabilities. This advantageous combination enables aluminium radiators to be extremely compatible with heat pump technology – which has led to them fast becoming the preference for new builds.

As previously outlined, the higher efficiencies gained by heat pumps are only achieved when running low flow temperatures of 50oC and a Delta T 20-25K. At these levels, the performance differences between steel and aluminium radiators are substantial. The lower thermal inertia of aluminium (with its inherent ability to absorb the heat from the water and radiate it to the room at faster rates) helps it achieve outputs far quicker than steel. This basic difference relates to the chemical properties of the two metals and figure 1 illustrates how this works in practice, with aluminium’s lower thermal mass heavily reducing the time a radiator takes to meet the desired temperature. Since

aluminium models heat up and cool down quicker, there is less chance of ‘overshooting’ the desired temperature and wasting energy, making them far more suitable for use with the lower flow temperatures associated with heat pumps, including the Alira air source heat pumps supplied by MHS’s sister company Modutherm.

A further benefit aluminium radiators have over their steel counterparts is a heightened capability to modulate (see figure 2). This diagram compares the modulation levels of steel and aluminium radiators and plots their paths to reach a set level. Here, it is clear to see that aluminium delivers lower peaks and troughs compared to steel, making it more efficient at reducing energy wastage. It also further highlights the material’s suitability for use with low temperature heating systems.

It is a fact that the majority of existing properties in the UK use hydronic heating systems, traditionally comprising a boiler and a range of radiators. As a result, despite the inevitable increase in heat pump installations, the established property stock will continue to rely on radiators as the core heat emitter of choice.

However, new build projects can also benefit from radiators without compromising system efficiency.

After all, they are a controllable and highly reactive space emitter, which have distinct benefits over UFH. It’s also clear that aluminium radiators, in particular, present themselves as the best option. 

Reference 1) https://assets.publishing.service.gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/976021/beis-dhdsfinal-report__1_.pdf

Fig 2. Heat up cycles of aluminium vs. steel radiators

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New Products Ventilation units for future homes

New additions to range of heat pumps ELCO Heating Solutions has added two new models to its AEROTOP range of air source heat pumps. The AEROTOP M is available in outputs from 24kW to 48kW, while the larger AEROTOP L can deliver outputs from 54kW to 88kW. All models in the range are reversible and can be supplied with flow and return manifolds for arrangements of up to four heat pumps, while 16 units can be managed by a cascade controller.

The new AEROTOP range have an A++ ErP Energy Rating, COPs up to 4.25 and SCOP up to 4.3 – showcasing their sustainability credentials. Plus, the new models feature next generation R32 refrigerant circuits, boasting high seasonal efficiency in both heating and cooling mode, as well as a 70 per cent reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) compared to R410A refrigerant.

The heat pumps have been

specifically designed with commercial use in mind, integrating high quality components for long-term durability, simple installation and maintenance.

ELCO has also designed the new AEROTOP models to integrate with the company’s condensing gas boilers.

Such an arrangement allows systems to maximise the new heat pumps’ COPs throughout the year, while also benefitting from the latest boiler technology when outside temperatures drop.

The AEROTOP M and L models both benefit from an ‘ECO’ mode to achieve maximum cost and energy savings, while maintaining comfortable heating conditions. In addition, integrated weather compensation can automatically adjust the internal temperature of each heat pump to match the external climate, providing consistent heating or cooling setpoints.

Transforming dumb meters into smart meters Pressac’s latest addition to its portfolio is a pulse counter designed to count the number of pulses from electricity and water meters, as well as any other machinery and equipment with a pulse output.

The counter can turn legacy meters into smart meters; reading kWh for electricity, m3 for water, or counts for general meters. The real-time data is sent to a smart gateway, encrypted, and sent to a local network or to the cloud platform, via Ethernet, LTE (4G) or WiFi. The pulse counter allows organisations to remotely monitor consumption at a granular level and gain a detailed understanding of how electricity and water are being used. Using this data, organisations can calculate their consumption, monitor how it changes over time, and plan future energy use and costs accordingly.

The unit can also be used on machinery and equipment with a pulse output to remotely count the number of pulses generated. For example, to count the number of ‘events’ such as a door opening and closing, the number of units produced from manufacturing machinery, and foot traffic from turnstile use.

The battery or mains-powered sensors use EnOcean low-power wireless technology, making them easy to install and very low maintenance.

Vent-Axia has launched the Multivent MEV family, a new range of mechanical extract ventilation (MEV) and decentralised MEV (dMEV) designed to provide a simple and effective solution to help housebuilders meet the Future Homes Standard.

The Vent-Axia Multivent MEV family offers a choice of eight MEV and eight dMEV models to ensure housebuilders have exactly the right ventilation for a property. Both the MEV and dMEV units offer an easy-to-operate control platform and extremely low operating noise. Additional benefits include increased ventilation rates, compact design, easy installation, as well as simple and accurate commissioning.

With a common digital control platform throughout the range and smart accessories for use in the home, the MEV and dMEV range is simple to install, commission and control. Plus, the wealth of control and switching options across the range gives housebuilders the flexibility to provide a solution for any new build scenario.

Within the new family of products, the Lo-Carbon Multivent MEV range offers a high-efficiency, low-profile solution for continuous whole house mechanical extract ventilation.

The range combines efficiency recognised on SAP PCDB combined with a specific fan power as low as 0.14w/l/s whilst still achieving ultralow noise levels. Housebuilders can select the model to meet the needs of each home, with airflows from 252m3/h - to 445m3/h and demand control which enables precise ventilation.

Vacuum degasser for smaller systems Spirotech has added to its range of vacuum degassers with the SpiroVent Superior S250 for smaller commercial closed heating and cooling systems.

Appropriate for locations such as schools, restaurants and larger domestic properties, it is designed to operate almost silently.

The S250 has been created in response to increased demand for low-temperature systems, such as in underfloor heating where it is difficult to detect where air can be released from.

Air in a system leads to corrosion and a destructive sludge, also creating noise from components such as pumps, which would cease to work efficiently.

Spirotech UK business director, Rob Jacques, said: “Unlike with higher temperature systems where you can predict where air will appear and then expel it with deaerators, in the new low-temperature systems it’s often impossible to determine where that would be. With a vacuum degasser, this is no longer an issue, improving efficiency and extending years of service.”

Vacuum degassers play an important role in helping to keep systems operating at optimum levels. They work by decreasing the pressure in the vacuum vessel that sits within the unit, liberating dissolved gases from the system liquid in the vessel, which accumulate at the top and can then be expelled.

The S250 processes up to 74 litres of liquid each hour and operates at just 41 decibels.

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Electric Vehicles

Moving to Electric Vehicles Dr Richard Bujko, strategy & business development manager, Manx Electricity Authority

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lobal decarbonisation will need to focus on new electricity demand growth from the transition of transportation and heating to e-mobility and low and zero carbon heating forms. To accelerate the adoption of the former, digital transformation is a prerequisite in the electrification of transport .

The UK has legally committed to achieving a net zero-carbon economy by 2050 and expects to fulfil this ambition by ending sales of new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 with hybrid vehicles only permitted until 2035.

Rechargeable battery

For details on how to obtain your Energy Institute CPD Certificate, see ENTRY FORM and details on page 20

Electric vehicles take a number of forms but are predominantly powered by electricity comprising an electric motor coupled with a rechargeable battery. The main classifications of electric vehicles (EVs) are: • battery electric vehicles (BEVs) which utilise electric motors powered by a rechargeable onboard battery.

The latter can also generate energy through the car’s own braking system to recharge the battery in a process known as ‘regenerative braking’; • plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) which can be simultaneously powered by an electric motor and internal combustion engine (ICE) but which require to be charged from an external charge point; • hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) which employ both an electric motor powered by a battery and ICE where the latter charges the battery and therefore does not require access to an external charge point; and • extended-range EVs (EREVs) comprise the same components as PHEVs but the wheels are always driven by an electric motor with the ICE acting as a generator to recharge the battery when it is depleted.

There are also a smaller number of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) which source their electricity from fuel cells that use hydrogen and oxygen from the air.

Increased EV sales will inevitably place electricity demand-related pressure on both local and national

infrastructure. To mitigate the potential onerous cost impact on future grid network reinforcement, intelligent digital technologies will be required to influence and incentivise EV consumer behaviour by encouraging flexible load control utilising sophisticated EV charging software incorporating Vehicle to Grid (V2G) services. In addition, the rollout of smart meters will facilitate the development from energy suppliers of dynamic price signalling techniques that employ innovative tariff structures that capitalise on renewable energy sources such as solar panels.

There were also 10,300 plug-in vans and a total of 34,360 charge points (CPs) registered in the UK. Financial incentives for prospective EV purchasers include the plug-in grant whose value represents 35 per cent of the EV’s purchase price with a maximum value of £3,000. However, this has recently been reduced to £2,500. It is primarily aimed at helping finance the relatively higher price of EVs compared to equivalent sized conventional vehicles and is administered by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). Other qualifying factors included the fact

Figure 1: Home Charging Wall Box provided by PodPoint

The UK Government’s Road to Zero policy anticipates that traditional ICE cars will be phased out by 2040 with an aspiration that at least 50 per cent - and as much as 70 per cent - of new car registrations will become ultra-low emission EVs by 2030 together with 40 per cent of new vans.

There has been a gradual transition to BEVs and both self-charging HEVs and PHEVs globally. Moreover, during the last decade, there has been significant growth in EV ownership with current market share in the UK representing around 1 per cent of all new vehicles on the road and 11 per cent of new vehicle registrations.

According to the website NextGreenCar, there were 164,100 BEVs on UK roads at the end of September 2020 and over 373,600 PHEVs. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), BEVs accounted for 6.7 per cent of total new car registrations and this figure rises to 10.5 per cent when PHEVs are fully taken into account.

that the eligible low-emission vehicle must have CO emissions of less than 50g/km and be able to travel at least 70 miles without emitting any CO. It must also be on the OLEV’s approved list.

In addition, the UK Government will provide up to £350 towards the cost of installing a home-charging wall box. However, it must be an officially approved ‘smart’ charger and will mainly benefit those with off-street parking.

Discontinue petrol car sales

The most common purchased BEVs are Nissan Leafs, Renault Zoes, BMW I3s and Tesla 3/X/S models.

However, the range of new models is continually increasing as the leading car manufacturers comply with the UK’s Government’s ‘Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’ plan to discontinue the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans.

The low- and zero-emission transport market was initially dominated by a comparatively Produced in Association with

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Electric Vehicles high percentage of plug-in hybrids such as the Mitsubishi Outlander which featured a relatively small battery enabling a limited driving range of around 30 miles on just ‘battery power’ but presented the owner with a significantly longer driving range –in excess of 300 miles - on its conventional engine.

But as the number of public electric charging stations – particularly those incorporating fast and rapid charging capability – has increased exponentially at easily accessible community centres such as retail and hotel outlets, this has helped to relieve range anxieties commonly felt by prospective EV owners. The added attraction of EVs has been further supplemented by new BEVs incorporating larger battery capacities which provide increased driving ranges that are almost comparable to that of conventional fossil fuelled vehicles with up to 200-300 miles on a single charge.

Other zero emission technologies in transport have included FCEVs such as the Toyota Mirai which is reliant on hydrogen as a fuel and whose waste stream is predominantly water vapour. This latter genre has required substantial financial support from the UK Government and has led to the construction of a number of hydrogen fuelling stations.

Larger vehicles such as Electric Refuse Vehicles (eRCV) are also being adopted as in Manchester where the UK’s leading sustainable waste management business – Biffa – has launched 27 new Zero Emission (ZEVs) to help reduce air pollution.

Driving range anxiety

There are a number of key anxieties faced by prospective EV purchasers which include the capital cost, driving range and speed of charging.

The average price of the majority of mid range EVs falls in the range of £25,000 - £30,000 even when factoring in the current Plug-in grant of £2,500.

Therefore the overall cost of an EV can represent almost double the price of a conventional family saloon. However, as manufacturers make the transition to the production of just pure EVs, the resulting increased economies of scale are expected to result in a gradual fall in the price of the latter. This trend will be accelerated as the manufacture of conventional cars is gradually reduced over the next decade with a combination of Government imposition of higher emission taxes in the form of congestion charges and/or carbon taxes.

For business customers considering purchasing EVs, additional financial benefits include 0 per cent Benefit in

Kind Company car tax and a 100 per cent first year allowance on the full cost from your profits before tax on both new EVs and charge points. Given that BEVs have no tailpipe emissions they are exempt from road tax.

On average an EV will have a typical operating cost of just 3p/ mile compared to the 9p/mile of conventional petrol or diesel cars.

Maintenance costs of EVs can also be around 30 per cent less than ICE vehicles because they have fewer moving parts and can benefit from reduced servicing costs. Additional monetary benefits are anticipated with business EV owners through the implementation of V2G technology which will encourage the development of demand response service offerings (flexibility) from local DNOs. This could take the form of discharging batteries during a DNO’s peak demand periods and therefore offsetting or delaying the capital costs necessary for localised grid reinforcement. EV owners could also benefit from reduced electricity

PodPoint. Key energy suppliers – both established and new - also entered this marketplace attempting to differentiate themselves with product offerings that covered the various segments such as home, workplace, and destination centre fast charging together with innovative and green tariffs.

EV charging has taken various forms. Home EV charging capability initially comprised a dedicated home ‘3 pin’ (Type 2 socket) 2.3kW charging point which for most EVs could require over eight hours to fully charge an initial ‘flat’ EV battery providing up to 8 miles of range per hour. Home charging can also be provided at 3.7kW or 7kW as most domestic properties have single phase power facilitating a driving range of around 15-30 miles. However, maximum charging speed may be limited by your EV’s onboard charger which can limit the charging rate to 3.6kW. For those households and most commercial properties benefitting from a three phase supply, faster

Figure 2: Delta –EE: Identification of suitable charge point power rating per location type.

costs when recharging during offpeak hours when there is a surplus of generation capacity. Currently only Nissan offer this V2G compatible EVs in the UK with both their Nissan Leaf BEVs and the enV200 van models.

A lack of EV charge points close to home and driving range limitations – commonly referred to as range anxiety – also feature as key barriers by prospective EV purchasers to switching to zero emission transportation. For those without access to off-street parking at home, increased reliance will be placed on workplace charging or ‘community hubs’ within retail, hospitality, leisure centre car parks, etc.

Initially, the low carbon transportation sector was dominated on the supply side by the large global auto manufacturers developing niche markets in EVs. However, the need for a robust and widespread EV charging infrastructure capability was becoming more competitive and encouraged the entry of new individual service providers such as Chargemaster and

charge points of 22kW are readily available. Home charging is currently regarded as slow charging and best used for overnight charging as a BEV would take between 6-12 hours to fully charge while a PHEV might take 2-4 hours.

Fast charging can take 3-4 hours to fully charge a BEV using an output of 7kW at single phase or 22kW at three phases.

Electric vehicle tariffs

One of the UK’s leading providers of domestic smart EV charging points is PodPoint10 and one of their standard wall boxes is shown in Figure 1.

Installation of a PodPoint application will also allow access to their extensive network of other public charge points across the UK. Some energy suppliers offer special electric vehicle tariff structures which encourage EV drivers to charge overnight by offering a discounted unit rate for electricity that equates to about 2p/mile. Island utility companies such as Manx Utilities11 offer a

specialised EV tariff which provides a discounted rate of 9.2p/kWh off-peak relative to their standard rate of 16.9p/ kWh. Others such as Jersey Electricity have adopted a range of subscription models such as Evolve Public which involves a monthly membership fee of £10 allowing EV owners access to all public chargers. The latter are fitted with dual sockets allowing both 16A and faster 32A charging depending on the type of EV. More expensive monthly membership fees include the capability to also charge at home.

An increasing number of large organisations operating significantly sized vehicle fleets are gradually transitioning to low carbon technologies as the speed and capacity of commercial EV charge points has improved. This has been facilitated with the advent of Rapid Charging which comprises either 43kW AC chargers or 50kW DC chargers with even larger EV capacity becoming available. The larger EV stations are capable of charging the majority of EVs to 70-80 per cent of total capacity within 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the battery.

Large EV Charge Point Operators (CPOs) have also established collaborative alliances with utility service companies and National Grid to provide fast and ultra-fast EV charging capability ranging from 50kW to 150kW and as large as 350kW. This has encouraged organisations operating large commercial fleets such as delivery vans to switch to all–electric alternatives – zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) as is the case with British Gas / Centrica12 and which utilise a ‘virtual fuel card’ for EV charging.

Delta-EE, a major energy consultancy, has summarised in its report ‘EV Charging at the Crossroads: The Fast, the Curious & the Race for Sale’ the dwell time for EV charging at various locations ranging from home to supermarkets/petrol station forecourts in Figure 2.

Even the major oil and gas companies such as Shell and BP have diversified into renewables and EV charging sectors. BP has acquired the UK’s leading EV CPO service provider Chargemaster and is also considering developing a widespread network of ultra-fast EV charging hubs.

Shell has teamed up with COP provider New Motion to accelerate the transition to low carbon transportation in the UK and in Europe. Under the terms of the deal, New Motion will focus on delivering more innovative smart-charging solutions to homes, businesses and public parking spaces.

The majority of EVs have a relatively short driving range of around 150 miles

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SERIES 19 / Module 01

Electric Vehicles Figure 3: EV charged by Tidal Power derived Charge Point.

compared to conventional vehicles.

However, the next generation of EVs such as the popular Nissan Leaf has a driving range of 180 miles while the latest Tesla Model S has a range of over 310 miles. Increased lithium ion battery capacity and advances in battery storage technologies is already leading to major improvements in the total driving range of modern EVs. Given that the average vehicle journey is 9 miles/day the range of an EV should not be a major concern. Access to home charging and the development by the public and private sector of a wide range of fast and ultra-fast EV charging stations will also contribute to building confidence and allaying prospective EV purchasers’ anxiety regarding the perceived short driving range of the average EV model.

EVs are regarded as very energy efficient with 60 per cent of the electrical energy from the national grid is converted to power at the wheels in contrast to the 20 per cent of the energy stored in conventional fuels for ICE vehicles. Other environmental benefits consist of zero emission of CO and other tailpipe discharges.

Advancements in EV technologies and additional incentives are expected to lower the cost of EV batteries and consequently demonstrate the reduced life cycle cost of EVs compared to conventional internal combustion engine cars. EDF – a major energy supplier in the UK- has suggested that across the lifecycle of an EV the latter is around 14 times more carbon efficient than a typical ICE vehicle.

In the short term to reduce the

carbon impact of existing ICE vehicles some of the major fuel supplies have installed bio-fuel dispensing units in their forecourts. Advances in bio-fuel production have resulted in short term mitigation of the carbon impact of conventional fuel powered vehicles through increased mixing of ethanol with petrol and methyl fatty acid with diesel. Percentage mixes of up to 10 per cent - known as E10 petrol – will be introduced at petrol stations across the UK in September 2021. This is expected to cut transport related CO emissions by 750,000 tonnes a year.

Ethanol will comprise low-grade grains, sugars and waste wood and will greatly support the UK Government’s ambitions to achieve net zero by 205013.

Ultra-fast wireless charging

For 2035 zero emission targets to be met rapid transformations are expected in the transport and e-mobility landscape from the universal and ubiquitous adoption of ultra-fast wireless charging of EVs to the design and development of high energy battery systems. Given that current designs of EV batteries are comparatively heavy in order to deliver the required driving range capability translates into more energy being consumed in a single journey.

Developments in the ‘highly energy dense solid state cells’ sector will lead to batteries with better energy storage, a more compact design and the capability of being fast charged. The establishment of high-volume battery manufacturing plants (‘gigafactories’) in the UK together with incremental

investment in EV technology training and the ethical sourcing of the rare materials essential in the composition of batteries18 will all contribute to expediting the transformation to a smart EV landscape in the UK. Consequently, a number of alternative forms of low- and zeroemission transportation schemes have been trialled including compressed natural gas, liquid natural gas and liquid petroleum gas.

With rapid EV growth forecast for the coming decade, the National Grid Electricity System Operator’s (NG ESO’s) Future Energy Scenarios Report 14, ‘Community Renewables’, considers the impact of this growth on electricity demand. The report projects that unconstrained EV charging demand at peak times could rise to approximately 24GW by 2050 However, NG ESO also highlights that this demand could be significantly mitigated by implementing smart charging techniques and further reduced by exploiting V2G techniques for load control and the provision of flexibility services to the local DNOs. Other advances in V2G will enable stationary EVs to become an established feature in Grid support and more significantly mitigate battery degradation and extend battery life.

To avoid system peaks a number of alternative and innovative load control measures have been explored including the integration of EV charge point infrastructure with renewable energy sources. This has been explored by the Shetland Island where tidal power is the fuel supply for the Island’s EVs15 as shown in Figure 3.

Green gas HGVs are also

an alternative to low carbon transportation and are expected to support the Decarbonising Transport Roadmap16.

Wireless charging or ‘charge on the move’ are concepts which require further research to guarantee compatibility and appropriate design installation procedures. Their potential may be more valid for electric taxis as these are constantly on the move as opposed to consumer EVs whose vehicles are predominantly parked either at their workplace or at home.

The UK Government wants to be at the forefront of rolling out autonomous driving technology and the transport ministry predicts that by 2035 around 40 per cent of new UK cars could have self-driving capabilities17.

To accelerate UK’s transition to EVs a combination of various factors have to be given serious consideration including: a robust and expanding manufacturing supply chain geared towards major improvements in battery technology, associated power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD)18; additional and sustained financial incentives from the UK Government to ‘nudge’ and encourage EV purchases; financial support towards the cost of both residential and public sector fast charging EV charging stations strategically positioned across the whole of the UK as well as onerous financial ‘carbon reduction/air quality improvement’ penalties to discourage the use of existing ICE vehicles on the roads. ■

REFERENCES 1.

2.

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11.

12.

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14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication.html?task=file. download&id=7864 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/governmentlaunches-road-to-zero-strategy-to-lead-the-world-in-zeroemission-vehicle-technology https://nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/statistics/ https://www.gov.uk/plug-in-car-van-grants https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-outlines-histen-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial-revolution-for25000-jobs. https://www.driving.co.uk/news/the-future-of-hydrogenfiling-stations-in-britain/ https://www.biffa.co.uk/media-centre/news/uks-largestfleet-of-electric-waste-vehicles-launches-in-manchester https://theenergyst.com/uk-power-networks-awards123mw-of-flex-contracts-evs-included/ https://www.nissan.co.uk/range/electric-cars/v2g.html https://pod-point.com/about https://www.manxutilities.im/your-home/electricity/ electric-vehicles/ https://www.centrica.com/media-centre/news/2021/ centrica-introduces-virtual-fuel-card-for-electric-fleetcharging/ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fuelling-a-greenerfuture-e10-petrol-set-for-september-2021-launch https://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/stories/journey-to-netzero-stories/eso-future-energy-scenarios-next-30-years https://www.novainnovation.com/news/news_/i per cent20tidal-powered-cars-driving-scotland-to-net-zero/ https://cadentgas.com/news-media/news/march-2021/ green-gas-hgvs-are-key-to-net-zero-says-new-report https://www.msn.com/en-ca/autos/news/uk-governmentgreen-lights-self-driving-cars-on-motorways/ar-BB1g7lz0 https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/ environmental-audit-committee/news/154978/supplychain-for-battery-electric-vehicles-inquiry-launched/

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SERIES 19 / Module 01

“Energy in Buildings and Industry and the Energy Institute are delighted to have teamed up to bring you this Continuing Professional Development initiative”

Electric Vehicles

ENTRY FORM

MARK THROWER Managing Editor

Please mark your answers below by placing a cross in the box. Don't forget that some questions might have more than one correct answer. You may find it helpful to mark the answers in pencil first before filling in the final answers in ink. Once you have completed the answer sheet, return it to the address below. Photocopies are acceptable.

Questions

1) What’s the difference between a plug-in hybrid 6) What are the main anxieties for prospective EV(PHEV) and a standard HybridEV (HEV)?

EV owners?

SERIES SEPTEMBER SERIES 18 17 | MODULE 03 09 | MARCH 20202020 □ No battery □ Capital cost & driving range □ No electric motor □ Speed of charging and capital cost Speed of charging and driving range □ Requires connection to an external power socket SMART GRIDS□ SPACE HEATING The capital cost, driving range and speed of □ No difference □ Please mark your answers below by placing a cross in the box. Don't forget that some Please mark your answers below by placing a cross in the box. Don't forget that some charging questions might have more than one correct answer. You may find it helpful to mark the questions might have more than one correct answer. You may find it helpful to mark the answers in pencil first before filling in the final answers in ink. Once you have completed 2) What does V2G stand for? answers in pencil first before filling in the final answers in ink. Once you have completed the answer sheet, return it to the address below. Photocopies are acceptable. the answer sheet, return it7) to What the address below.

Photocopies are acceptable. is the highest EV charge capability for a □ Volume-to-Generate domestic home with a three phase supply?

Vehicle-to-Grid □ QUESTIONS □ Volume-to-Grid QUESTIONS □ 3kW 7kW □ Variable-to-Gate □main 1) The establishment of the ■ Facilitate the connection of distributed 1. Which is the most common heating 6. Which is thegeneration ‘delivery end’ ofvariable a vapourloads transmission grid began in whichmedia in renewable and 22kW □ wetdecade? systems? compression heat pump system? such as electric vehicles and heat pumps 12kW 3) The UK Government’s Road to Zero■■policy □ 1940s High temperature hot water ■ The evaporator 7) does the abbreviation VPP stand for? anticipates that traditional ICE cars will be ■ Steam The condenser ■ 1930s ■ What purchase programme ■ ■ Low temperature hot water The compressor ■ 1960s ■ Volume phased out by 8) What is the ethanol content of the ■ The slinkyprotection programme ■ Cold water ■ Voluntary bio-fuel asVirtual E10 power in petrol? □ 2025 2) Which key parameters need to be known ■ plant controlled by smart grids? 10gms □ 2030 2. What is the most common□ space heating 7. Which of these factors is used by a weather Voltage and frequency ■ fuel in the UK? compensation control system?

8) Electricity cannot be stored in large 10cc □ 2035 ■ Frequency and current □ quantities by householders?

Fuel oil Building thermal inertia ■ ■ 2040 10 per cent □ □ ■ Voltage, current and frequency only large utilities and industrial/ ■ Time as of day ■ Electricity ■ False energy providers can provide □ 100 per cent ■ commercial Naturalthe gas Outsidefacilities air temperature ■ What’s 3) main source of large-scale storage 4) What’s the current value of the UK’s Plug-in Coal ■ renewable ■ Date generation connecting to ■ False grant to encourage purchase of EVs? the grid?

9) What is a gigafactory?

■ True as householders can store electricity Biomass 3. What is a typical dry bulb space temperature Which of these factors is used by ancharging optimum ■ in standalone batteries or when manufacturer □ £2,5000 □ Electronic chip8.start forWind a home? control system? farms ■ their electric vehicles □ £3,000 □ High-volume battery ■ 160Cfarms building occupancy ■ Solar ■ Level ofmanufacturer Solar panel manufacturer Outside airmain temperature 9) is the benefit of smart meters?

■ 190C ■ What □ £4,000 □ 4) What are the main forms of variable 220C Boiler capacity They avoid the need for meter readers ■ ■ ■ □ £3,500 □ Wind electrical loads connecting at the turbine manufacturer

ENTRY FORM

Boilerprovide flow temperature accurate and timely ■ They ■ information on power flows across the ■ Electric vehicles and heat pumps smarttypes grid 5) Which model of car is not a pure battery What is the source of renewable energy 4. What isdriven currently the most10) common 9. Which of space heating system can used ■ Smart meters TheyShetland facilitate theIslands? export of construction material for panel radiators? EVs in■ building management systems besurplus used to control?

EV (BEV)? to charge the ■ Home automation devices electricity from household solar PV panels ■ Cast iron ■ Any Nissan Leaf Hydro Pressed steel ■ What ■ Wet systems 5) is the main threat to smart grids?

10) What does the technology VtG represent?

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■ A fan A temperature sensor ■ respiration Reduce the need for centralised power ■ to Grid enabling EV batteries to ■ An atrium A proportional control device ■ Vehicle Please complete your details below in■block capitals. generation discharge to the grid to ‘smooth’ high ■ A chimney A digital display device profiles.

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How to obtain a CPD accreditation from the Energy Institute This is the first module in the nineteenth series and focuses on Electric Vehicles. It is accompanied by a set of multiple-choice questions.

To qualify for a CPD certificate readers must submit at least eight of the ten sets of questions from this series of modules to EiBI for the Energy Institute to mark. Anyone achieving at least eight out of ten correct answers on eight separate articles qualifies for an Energy Institute CPD certificate. This can be obtained, on successful completion of the course and notification by the Energy Institute, FREE OF CHARGE for both Energy Institute members and non-members.

The articles, written by a qualified member of the Energy Institute, will appeal to those new energy management and to Energy in and and the Energy Institute are Energy inBuildings Buildings andIndustry Industry and theto Energy Institute aredelighted delighted to with more experience of the subject. have teamed up you Professional havethose teamed upto tobring bring youthis thisContinuing Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment Development initiative.

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11 Batteries 11 Energy Efficiency Legislation BEMS & Storage Batteries & Storage 22 Energy as a Service 22 Building Controls Refrigeration Energy as a Service 33 Water Management 33 Smart LED Technology Water Grids Management 44 Demand Side Response 44 Lighting District Heating DemandTechnology* Side Response 55 Drives & Motors 55 Heat Pumps* Air Conditioning Drives & Motors 66 Blockchain Technology 66 Metering & Monitoring* Behaviour Change Blockchain Technology 77 Compressed Air 77 Air Conditioning* Thermal Imaging Compressed Air 88 Energy Purchasing 88 Boilers Burners* Solar Thermal Energy&Purchasing Terms: in submitting your completed youChange* are indicating 99 Space Heating 99 answers Behaviour Smart Buildings Space Heating consent to Management EiBI’s holding and processing the personal data 10 Data Centre 10 Combined Heat & Power* 10 Biomass Boilers 10 Data Centre Management* you have provided to us, in accordance with legal bases set out

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Completed answers should be mailed to: should be to: The Education Department, Energy inCompleted Buildingsanswers & Industry, Box 825, Completed answers shouldP.O. bemailed mailed to: Guildford, GU4 8WQ. The TheEducation EducationDepartment, Department,Energy Energyin inBuildings Buildings& & Industry, Industry,P.O. P.O.Box Box Or scan and e-mail to: editor@eibi.co.uk.

825, 825,GUILDFORD, GUILDFORD,GU4 GU48WQ. 8WQ.Or Orscan scanand and e-mail e-mailto toeditor@eibi.co.uk. editor@eibi.co.uk.All All All modules will then be supplied to the Energy Institute for marking modules moduleswill willthen thenbe besupplied suppliedto tothe theEnergy EnergyInstitute Institutefor formarking marking Produced in Association with

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20 24 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | SEPTEMBER MARCH 20202020

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Products in Action

Science Park benefits from advanced controls A versatile lighting control system from CP Electronics’ RAPID range has been installed at Buildings I & II at the Cambridge Science Park.

Enjoying a prominent position at the entrance to the Park, and offering over 18,600m2 of “Cat A” office and R&D space, Buildings I & II are the last two buildings to be constructed for TusPark as part of their investment in the Cambridge Science Park.

The project had to provide lighting controls for the two buildings including the toilets, atrium and the multi-storey car park. The concept for the offices was for a DALI fully addressable system which included open plan offices with presence detection and daylight harvesting. The toilets required presence detection to ensure energy saving, whilst the atrium required full lighting control that could be manually controlled. Finally, the car park needed a fully monitored system including emergency test and monitoring system.

With lighting playing such a major role

in the offices, CP Electronics’ RAPID system was installed to allow for scene setting, which ensures that each area provides the desired level of illumination. The open plan office spaces benefited from daylight harvesting, a key benefit of the RAPID system, which saves the maximum amount of energy by reducing the light output gradually in lighter areas near windows and increasing in darker areas, thus retaining comfort levels for occupants.

The lighting needs of the atrium were slightly different to those of the offices as full manual control and the ability to set light levels was required. The RAPID system was ideal for the atrium as a fully addressable and networkable system, with a simple graphical user interface that allows switching between scenes via an easy-to-use control panel. With the installation of presence detectors in the atrium linked to RAPID scene setting plates at the reception desk, the user can easily control the level of lighting output.

Boiler upgrade at Canary Wharf As part of a major upgrade, ELCO Heating Solutions has supplied 15 TRIGON XL 570kW boilers to 10 Upper Bank Street in Canary Wharf. The new compact and highly efficient gas condensing boilers have replaced 21 ageing units.

Comprising 30 occupied floors, four basement floors, special function suites, as well as a gym, swimming pool and auditorium – all spanning over 93,000m2 – 10 Upper Bank Street required a modern, reliable and high performance heating system to cope with the fluctuating demands of the building.

To fulfil the system requirements, ELCO’s floor standing units were installed over three floors; four boilers on the 31st level, and an additional 11 divided between the fifth and sixth. ELCO also ensured hassle free integration to the building management system, by utilising the ELCO Commercial Gateway to allow communication via BACnet protocol.

MEP designers for the project were THD Consulting Engineers, while the installation was undertaken by HEVENTA Building Services Engineering.

Versatile control lights up Chinese airports Lights are being controlled by using the KNX-RF radio protocol at Beijing and Xinjiang airports.

The first KNX light switch modules from ZF were installed and used in July 2016 at Hetian Airport in the city of Xinjiang. Due to the positive results, Beijing International Airport also expressed interest in the innovative modules. By September 2020 the energy harvesting light switches from ZF were controlling the lighting of the VIP rooms at the airport of the Chinese capital.

The reasons for using these innovative ZF light switch modules are varied, but simple. Based on RF and completely free of batteries and cables, the modules can be integrated into a KNX network. After a short period of training, lights can be

controlled via the ZF light switch in the same way as traditionally wired light switches. KNX-RF commands transmitted by the switches can be easily transformed into KNX-TP by means of a media coupler.

As a wireless solution, however, the ZF

light switch offers great flexibility and the option of redesigning the room division in the airport according to individual requirements. This avoids not only maintenance work in the future but also time-consuming measures for battery

replacement and disposal.

The technical core component of the ZF light switch module is located inside.

A small, compact generator (20.1 x 7.3 x 14.3mm) generates enough energy by mechanical actuation due to the inductive principle. This ensures a reliable radio transmission of commands. With a lifetime of over 1,000,000 switching cycles, it can be operated for many years without any problems.

The wireless light switch module from ZF is available for the KNX-RF wireless standard without an additional gateway.

Due to the KNX protocol structure, the generator requires a high energy yield.

With up to 330µWs, the generator from ZF is ideally suited for this application. In addition to KNX-RF, the ZF light switch module also supports the EnOcean3.0 wireless standard and the Bluetooth5.0 Low Energy. It is compatible with commercially available standard frames and can also be combined with customerspecific operating and design panels.

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Energy in Hospitals & Healthcare

Paul Brickman is sales and marketing director at Crestchic Loadbanks

Cut the risk of outages Power failure is not an option for a hospital. Paul Brickman explores how hospitals can ensure that their back up power systems are reliable should the worst happen

F

or hospitals and healthcare facilities, which often run 24 hours a day, every single day of the year, having access to a reliable power system is absolutely mission critical.

A power cut is, at best, a major inconvenience and operational nightmare and, at worst, a threat to life.

In recent years, the global demand for power has risen sharply. Our expectation to be continually plugged into the latest technology is as evident in industry and healthcare as it is in our home-lives, with technologically advanced equipment increasingly reliant on power to operate.

Conversely, in the last few months, the change in our lifestyles, living and working patterns driven by the Coronavirus pandemic have seen our usage patterns fluctuate and the demand on the grid reduce.

Hand in hand with these changes in demand, the UK’s energy mix is going through a transition from fossil fuel-generated electricity to an increased prevalence of renewable sources. Combine these factors, and the National Grid is faced with a challenge when it comes to balancing demand and supply - a situation which can lead to unexpected outages.

Needless to say, with people’s lives in their hands, hospital trusts are well aware of the impact of a break in mission-critical power.

From the more obvious effect on lighting, heating and operational infrastructure such as lifts and computer systems, to critical lifesaving equipment in theatres and intensive care units. To mitigate the risk to life and the knock-on effect of having to reschedule appointments in an already overstretched public service, hospital power systems usually take a multi-phased approach to backing up their power supply. A mixture of local battery power and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems will handle the immediate

Load banks test, support or protect a critical backup power source and ensure it is working optimally

risk and prevent critical machines from shutting down. This shortterm fail-safe is backed-up by generator systems, which are designed to be operational within minutes and have the capacity to take over from the emergency batteries and power buildings and machinery over a longer period.

Robust and reliable Usually installed at build-phase, standby generators are a common solution to provide back-up power if the standard electricity supply is interrupted. They are known for being robust and reliable, offering contractors and facilities managers the reassurance that they’ll do the job and kick in if the worst happens. However, just like any other internal combustion engine, lubrication, cooling systems, fuel system and electrics all need to be tested to ensure faultless operation. Lifting, moving and transporting sensitive equipment, as well as varying on-site conditions such as temperature and humidity, make it absolutely critical that backup power systems are tested in-situ in actual site

conditions after being installed and on an ongoing basis thereafter.

While the risks of downtime vary from site to site, one thing remains constant - interruptions in power supply have the potential to cause operational chaos. Wherever a generator is installed, there is also a need for a load bank - a device used to create an electrical load which imitates the operational or ‘real’ load that a generator would use under normal operational conditions. Load banks are used to

test, support, or protect a critical backup power source and ensure that it is working optimally should an outage occur.

Ideally, all generators should be tested annually for real-world emergency conditions using a resistive-reactive 0.8pf load bank.

This type of load bank provides a picture of how well an entire system will withstand changes in load pattern while experiencing the level of power that would typically be encountered under real operational conditions.

The inductive loads used in resistive/reactive testing will show how a system will cope with a voltage drop in its regulator.

This is particularly important for hospitals, where multiple generators might be operated in parallel. In this type of application, a problem with one generator could prevent other generators from working as they should. With fuel, exhaust and cooling systems also untested, as well as the potential for embedded moisture, an untested system becomes extremely high risk.

The importance of testing is being recognised in many new-build facilities, with the installation of load banks often being specified at the design stage rather than being added retrospectively. The cost of purchasing a load bank is typically a fraction of the cost of the system which it supports, with rental options negating the need for capital expenditure altogether.

Finances aside, the potential cost of power failures in the healthcare sector is unfathomable, putting an overstretched system under additional pressure and causing a very real threat to life. With this in mind, those specifying, commissioning or managing these sites can ill-afford to overlook the critical role of load banks when it comes to ensuring a stable, consistent and constant flow of power. 

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Energy in Hospitals & Healthcare Humidification systems for London clinic The last unit of a number of custommade humidification systems has recently been installed at the new Cleveland Clinic London Facilities in Grosvenor Square, which is due to open soon. Ranked among the top hospitals in the world the specification and requirements required careful selection taking into account the design parameters of the Air Handling units and the evaporation distances required.

Supplied by Humidity Solutions, the units are designed to achieve various humidity levels between 40 per cent rH to 60% per cent rH, with a control tolerance of +/- 5 per cent rH, depending on the area being supplied by each AHU. Every unit was designed and custom sized to fit the exact cross section, air flow and off condition specified for each AHU. The centralised steam system is being used to connect to the Multisteam distributors.

The Neptonic Multisteam HD is a high efficiency insulated steam distributor, it is used in a humidification system that injects and disperses atmospheric or lowpressure steam into a building’s air supply to attain the desired humidity level.

As in all applications, space within the AHU or duct is key, and ensuring the humidity is completely evaporated into the air prior to any filters or components of the system downstream. Calculations are made to allow this evaporation distance to be specified and relied upon, meaning no carry over or wetting at any point and ensuring evaporation in as little as 500mm.

Some of the advantages of the system include: • wasted energy is reduced by up to 85 per cent. This includes steam supply consumption and wasted condensate generated by heat transfer from hot channel to air stream; • the energy savings will pay back the difference invested in approximately 15 months; and • prevents condensate ejection on start-up and during any modulating humidity demand. 

Contract to cut trust’s energy bill by £1.8m a year Vital Energi has secured a £25m contract with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to reduce the Trust’s carbon footprint by 14,000 tonnes a year, and guarantee energy savings of approximately £1.8m a year for the Nottingham City Hospital.

The project received grant funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), which is administered

by Salix on behalf of the Government’s Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The City Hospital currently relies on aged gas- and coal-fired boilers for heating and hot water, which Vital Energi will be replacing with more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies.

The old laundry building will be demolished so Vital can construct a new energy centre at the heart of the site, which will be equipped with combined heat and power units to provide heating and electricity throughout the hospital using new and improved energy infrastructure.

Vital Energi will also be installing renewable generation and energy conservation measures such as LED lighting, 300kWe solar PV panels, and

342kW air source heat pumps around the hospital, which will deliver energy and carbon reductions.

Andrew Chatten, director of estates and facilities at the Trust, said: “We are committed to doing everything possible to reduce our carbon footprint, and to upgrade our ageing hospital estate, which costs a lot to maintain and makes it much harder for us to deliver the outstanding patient care to which we aspire.

Having secured grant funding as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, we are now looking forward to working with Vital Energi to make City Hospital much more energy efficient.”

Vital Energi is delivering the project through the Carbon and Energy Fund Framework, which has been specifically created to fund complex energy infrastructure upgrades for public sector organisations. 

UV lighting can give peace of mind to healthcare facilities LEDVANCE is making available a range of UV-C lighting products that are designed to provide peace of mind in hospitals and healthcare facilities such as care homes, through disinfecting light solutions. The LEDVANCE T8 UV-C and the Linear Housing UV-C Sensor can be installed in wards, offices, waiting rooms, break rooms and other hospital spaces to make employees and patients feel safer.

Commenting on the range, Nelo Neves, managing director of LEDVANCE UK, said: “Simple yet highly effective sanitisation solutions, such as UV-C lighting fixtures, can, ensure hospital spaces and equipment are disinfected in minutes. LEDVANCE is in a key position to support with this.”

For easy installation in a wide range of spaces, the LEDVANCE T8 UV-C lamps are available in three lengths: 440mm (15W/25W), 900mm (30W/55W) and 1,200mm (36W/75W). They are CCG and ECG compatible and can be mounted on a standard G13 base. These T8 lamps last up to 20 percent longer than competitors’ comparable products (10,800h/L70B50) and conform to the most stringent quality and safety standards (including ISO 9001/14001 and CB certification).

Without appropriate safety measures, UV-C radiation

can be dangerous to humans, and require the installation of detection sensors to ensure protection against exposure. The LEDVANCE IR Sensor Safety Kit gives a 30 second delay at start-up and switches off the lamp as soon as people are detected. The Linear Housing UV-C Sensor comes with an integrated long-lasting ECG (electronic control gear to regulate dimming), which is compatible with LEDVANCE T8 UV-C. 

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ESTA VIEWPOINT

For further information on ESTA visit www.estaenergy.org.uk

Fitting energy efficiency into Net Zero plans With COP26 coming up ESTA will be redoubling its efforts to get the energy efficiency message out to trade associations and business. Mervyn Pilley reports

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veryone is focusing on Net Zero at the moment. Not really a surprise with COP26 just around the corner. But this focus has led ESTA to some soul searching as we need to tell the world just how energy efficiency fits in with this goal.

I think it is fairly clear to the majority working in the sector that using less energy and using the energy that you have more efficiently is the start of every Net Zero journey. I have been taking part in a growing number of collaborations with other trade associations getting them to help their members to understand the importance of energy efficiency in the Net Zero process. This has become a big part of the ESTA message. Promoting our behaviour change programme – the Energy Conscious Organisation - has also grown in importance as we try and convince businesses and other organisations that energy efficiency is not just about buying expensive equipment. It does at least appear that the UK Government is starting to understand this.

Despite the fact that we have been advised that we will not be attending the event itself, at least not as part of an official delegation or conference event, work continues on our energy efficiency manifesto that we plan to present to the COP delegates. The

underpinning strands for the document are: • international agreement to apply energy hierarchy to legislation, taxation, and priorities; • prioritise energy efficiency measures over support to renewable energy; • implement an international framework for defining a common M&V approach for Scope 1 and 2 emissions; • apply common standards for reporting embedded emissions in the supply of goods and services (Scope 3); and • UK on the global stage.

Low cost of energy efficiency Above all else we want to focus everyone’s mind of the relatively low cost and quick pay back of energy efficiency, especially when measured against every other hugely expensive solution being discussed. We are fine-tuning the document with a view to promoting its launch in July. The solutions for the achievement of energy efficiency are already in place and not subject to any Nikola Tesla type assumptions about the appearance of new technological solutions to save the planet. Money and time are not on our side!

It does, at least at the time of writing, still appear to be the fact that the event will be mainly face to face, although the disparity

Mervyn Pilley is executive director of ESTA (Energy Services and Technology Association)

between the vaccination roll out around the world will mean that many delegates will not be able to attend in person. This should not matter but the reality of world politics may well mean that some countries will feel disadvantaged. Just as we must bring every country along in the Net Zero journey, we must bring every country along in the vaccination programme.

On the policy front we are, at the time of writing, still waiting for the Heat and Buildings strategy document. This very long-awaited document is clearly going to have a major effect on the policies of the UK Government. It is of great concern that so much policy is going to have to be enacted and funded in a rapidly diminishing amount of time. While we fully accept that COP is itself only the start of the journey it does need to be a very quickly run journey. This is a lesson that was learned the hard way by the failure of the Green Homes Grant scheme where far too much was expected of too few companies in far too short a time.

We are pleased to hear the autumn spending review might mean that the scheme has a ‘second bite of the cherry’.

By the time you read this we should have launched our own, long-awaited, Commercial Energy Users Information Centre. Along with the Commercial Energy Efficiency Alliance we are keen to engage with the widest possible array of stakeholders for this collaboration to ensure that every non- domestic/commercial user of energy can have access to helpful, topical, and impartial advice at no cost to them.

Finding their required solution should neither be time consuming, expensive nor require a PhD in energy management.

Disrupting the traditional approach to the supplier/customer relationship is the name of the game for us. If any EiBI reader is interested in finding out more about what we are doing in this work, please email me: mervyn@estaenergy.org.uk For me personally – both vaccinations received, gratefully, and subsequent waiting period over. I have started thinking again about going to trade shows again and meeting members face to face. I may not visit too many this year but 2022 beckons already and we are planning our own return to face-to-face events. It will be very interesting to see how business gets back to business again in the coming months. It may not be relevant for every business but for many, especially micro businesses, face to face is the only real way to make a living so it’s crucial for them that things start to pick up again. Like all trade associations coming out of the pandemic we have a great deal of work to do. 

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Data Centre Management

David Craig is chief executive officer at Iceotope

When air just won’t cool it David Craig believes that liquid cooling of servers is the most energy-efficient way to drive the data centre industry forward as energy use in the sector continues to surge

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he data centre market uses massive amounts of energy and water in its role as a key economic and research platform for this data-led era. The last year of corporations shifting to WFH, home schooling and binge-watching content, has witnessed immense growth in data generation and consumption.

The market will continue to experience huge growth partly due to online device installation up from 18.4bn devices in 2018 to 29.3bn devices expected by 2030. To support this expansion the network of data centres continues to grow, and with it, the power, cooling and connectivity that maintains it.

Gartner predicts that public cloud services will grow to a $368bn market by 2022, with all major countries experiencing between 15 per cent and 33 per cent growth.

Furthermore, the growth of small edge data centres, typically drawing up to 10kW per site, will require a roll out of tens of thousands of units across individual countries to monitor, analyse and take action on specific applications such as intelligent road and vehicles, hospitals and many more.

The Uptime Institute recently stated that, average data centre PUE in 2020 was 1.58. This has not significantly improved in the last seven years. Many data centre developers are still wedded to a chilled air-cooled approach to technology spaces, which rolls out the older style fan assisted servers.

This legacy approach consumes large amounts of water and up to 30 per cent of the data centre’s energy in cooling reducing the total IT load available. A more enlightened approach whether in data centres or at the Edge is chassis-level precision immersion liquid cooling technology, which has a significantly lower PUE 1.03.

Liquid cooling is 1,000 times more efficient than air cooling and

Liquid cooling of servers is the most energy-efficient way to drive the data centre industry forward

eliminates the requirement for refrigerants. It also removes the need for server fans while dramatically increasing the compute density that can be effectively managed in each server rack. Within the technology space liquid cooling within HPC environments allows guaranteed operational temperatures within tightly configured server clusters.

The classic design of a data centre is to use cool airflow across the hot components within

server racks to maintain the operational temperature within the technology suite. It is often the case that more energy is used to power the mechanical systems to cool the technology hall than is used to run the servers, ITE and network equipment. At a time when AI (Artificial Intelligence)based applications require highperformance computing (HPC), air cooling and the excessive water it uses is no longer the most effective strategy to cool the technology suite.

Pressure from investors, customers, legislators and the public is causing the industry to rethink data centre cooling strategy.

Template to optimise energy Liquid cooling of servers is the most energy-efficient way to drive the data centre industry forward. It provides a template to optimise energy use in the technology suite, so more power drives the applications on the servers, rather than the cooling systems.

As local ‘edge’ data centre designs are implemented, these too benefit from liquid cooling technology over air cooling techniques, in what are much more constricted spaces.

Today’s view on sustainability and reductions in CO2 from data centres is partly driven by the cost considerations as energy and water become more expensive and less available, as well as the threat of

legislation to reduce emissions. Also, the massive increase in AI and ML (Machine-Learning) applications which require HPC and graphical processing unit (GPU)-rich servers to process compute-dense workloads has increased the average server power usage from 5kW/rack to upwards of 15kW/rack and in instances like Iceotope’s Ku:l 2 up to 42kW/rack. These HPC configurations no longer work effectively with air-cooled processes.

The HPC market was valued at $39.1bn in 2019 and is expected by research companies to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5 per cent from 2020 to 2027. This market is also referred to as supercomputing and involves the use of increasingly large parallel processing clusters to throughput the data at high-speeds and accuracy reducing results timescales. This capability is making HPC a must have for many corporations, governments and research facilities, which is contributing to the market’s growth.

As new-build and legacy data centres consider the requirements to accommodate HPC environments, with their concentrations of servers, the heat created must be effectively removed and dealt with. Precision immersion technology can now capture and efficiently reject over 97 percent of the heat generated.

Liquid cooling techniques have become more flexible in the devices that can now be accommodated into the systems. To greatly increase energy efficiency in legacy data centres it is possible and cost effective to retrofit chassis level liquid cooled servers in similar racks in the technology suites. In fact, a shared space can greatly increase the efficiency of the space. It is not unusual that technology suites layouts have void spaces where the air cooling is not effective. These areas can be used by liquid-cooled technology, increasing the total space utilisation, creating a more efficient suite.  JUNE 2021 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 27

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Data Centre Management

Jack Bedell-Pearce is chief executive officer and co-founder at 4D Data Centres

The conundrum of going green As we become more environmentally conscious as a society, it is of paramount importance that we push for more sustainable business practices, believes Jack Bedell-Pearce

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or the average individual, being more sustainable may amount to taking on more eco-friendly habits, such as recycling and reducing water consumption, or investing in electric or hybrid vehicles. It’s all about making small adjustments that will amount to bigger results in the long run.

In recent years, there’s been noticeable public and shareholder pressure on corporations to prove they’re taking the necessary steps towards tackling climate change, mainly by publicly setting goals on how they plan to reduce their carbon footprint and embrace a more sustainable vision.

One good example is the IT industry, which is routinely looking into effective ways to minimise electrical power generation from fossil fuels, as well as improve waste management and water conservation. However, IT also happens to be a sector that is in constant expansion, predominantly due to our increasing reliance on digital tools and platforms, which means that reducing energy consumption presents something of a conundrum, especially when it comes to data centres.

The last year has shown unprecedented growth across the IT sector and so it is vital that, as growth continues, so do the efforts to become more sustainable.

For the data centre industry, which is single-handedly responsible for at least 1 per cent of global energy consumption, sustainability takes on a more intense and innovative path.

If we think of these hubs as the core of connectivity, data storage and processing, as well as a variety of business-critical applications, it is only natural to believe that data storage and internet use are only set to increase in the years ahead.

We must therefore work to ensure we keep energy consumption at sustainable levels using green

adopted by 4D, which installed a highly energy efficient “pod” at its Gatwick site that uses immersion cooling technology. The “pod” uses a biodegradable dielectric fluid – that has half the density of water – and heat exchangers to cool down IT equipment. The fluid is kept cool by using intercoolers and water, via an internal heat exchanger that extracts heat from the fluid and redistributes it into chill water, which is subsequently pumped away and cooled down again in 4D’s adiabatic cooling towers, a similar process is used in the automotive industry.

The last year has shown unprecedented growth across the IT sector so efforts to become more sustainable must redouble

Harness renewable energy

‘Data centres have a real opportunity to drive long-lasting change by embracing sustainability’ technology in data centres. After all, we’re growing ever more dependent on the kind of technology that’s driving innovation, such as 5G, IoT and machine learning, all of which require data centres to operate.

It could even be argued that data centres have an ethical responsibility to be champions of change, and therefore take on the crucial role of implementing measures that minimise the impact that data storing is having on our ecosystem.

Accelerating change There are many steps being taken to address the energy usage of data centres, but this process will need to be accelerated if consumption is to be kept to a minimum, especially when considering that data usage increased by 47 per cent just in the first quarter of 2020, during the first COVID-19 lockdown. As we try to predict what the future might look like post pandemic, in the short term at least data usage will remain high.

Data compression is one example,

which facilitates far greater levels of efficiency especially when incorporating advancements in cloud technology. The process involves the reduction of a file’s size by re-encoding the file data to use fewer bits of storage when compared to the original file.

The main advantage presented by data compression is that a compressed file requires less time for transfer and consumes less network bandwidth. By diminishing file size, data transmission time and communication bandwidth, less storage capacity is required, which results in decreased energy consumption, increased productivity, as well as significant cost savings.

Immersion cooling, on the other hand, represents a more practical measure for addressing challenges around energy inefficiency. The process sees computer components or even full servers being immersed in a dielectric liquid that enables higher heat transfer performance than air.

This solution was recently

Another sustainable option for data centres is harnessing renewable energy sources. With electricity being the primary source for running daily operations, a single data centre’s environmental impact will be largely determined by where it gets its electricity from. This means that, depending on their resources and location, there is scope for data centres to implement a set-up that relies more on environmentally friendly energy sources, such as wind, solar or even tidal.

Data centres have a real opportunity to drive long-lasting change by embracing sustainability.

Committing to a green agenda is obviously a step in the right direction for any organisation but, to become a truly sustainable company, business owners need to ensure energy efficiency is at the heart of every aspect of a data centre’s daily operations.

By sourcing the most sustainable materials and technologies for designing and maintaining these energy-intensive hubs, business owners are able to run their data centres in a smart, efficient and clean way, ensuring that their impact on the environment is minimised as data consumption continues to thrive. 

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Chris Wellfair is projects director at Secure I.T. Environments

Data Centre Management

Many routes to efficiency Learn what is happening in your data centre and don’t make any assumptions. Chris Wellfair looks at the challenge of improving energy efficiency

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he amount of technology businesses now rely on is immense. The connected nature of business means that we are not simply providing IT systems for staff to use, our businesses are connected to the rest of the world in a way that relies on real-time information and a level of granularity and transparency that has never been seen before. The data centre has truly become the heart of most businesses, even gaining responsibility for systems that would have previously sat elsewhere, such as CCTV/alarm systems, telephony, Internet of Things and building control systems.

While our thirst for technology has grown, we do have to start the conversation about improving data centre energy efficiency by recognising that every single year computing hardware gets smaller, faster and more energy efficient. This is great news when organisations hit their natural hardware refresh cycle, but that is not a ‘get out’ – hardware is only efficient when used efficiently. We see lots of situations where there are racks of servers that might be running at only 10-20 per cent utilisation. There are some very easy wins to be had when it comes to improved energy efficiency in data centres by consolidating appropriate loads on servers and those servers into fewer cabinets.

So, start by conducting a load analysis of your servers to learn where those efficiencies could be gained.

Another opportunity for a quick and relatively inexpensive win is to switch light sources in the data centre to LED. That may mean just changing bulbs, or it could be a strategic decision to switch from being a ‘lights on’ data centre to a ‘lights out’ environment, where intelligent motion tracking LED systems are used to only light the area of a data centre in which motion is taking place.

When designing a data centre, take account of its evolution as cabinets move and grow and loads change

The use of radio frequency sensors and tags has become much more common in data centres over recent years. The technology is easy to retrofit in existing data centres, and because of its small size can be used in small spaces, such as tightly packed cabinets. It is very useful in environmental monitoring for everything from basic temperature and fluid detection to differential air pressure, current and voltage sensing. The wireless nature of RF devices is particularly attractive for in-rack environments where clutter and cable dress can be a constant battle. It can bring a whole new level of detail and understanding to what is happening within individual racks – information that will be critical to identifying energy saving opportunities.

Design for efficiency When a data centre is designed, it should always be approached with energy efficiency in mind, and the best equipment for that task. But just like the servers, the equipment required to keep the DC running also improves with each generation. Over time, the data centre will also physically evolve as cabinets move, numbers grow, and loads change. This all impacts the cooling requirements and efficiency of the space. We need to recognise this and take

‘Learn what is happening in your data centre and consider future plans when making any investment’ action to see how it impacts energy efficiency, as yesterday’s design may not meet today’s needs.

Sometimes we are forced to rethink cooling systems because they reach end of life or regulatory changes, but it is a good idea to periodically conduct a full assessment of the cooling system and wider data centre energy efficiency. Advances such as liquid cooling, now deliver extremely efficient cooling directly to the CPUs in a server.

When it comes to expanding or upgrading an aging data centre, it is now possible to squeeze so much compute power into a small space, that a room or series of large cabinets may be overkill for your data centre goals. Smaller form factors offer many advantages in overcoming site location and budget challenges, along with rapid build times and lower running costs. They are also extremely energy efficient.

These micro data centres, as they are known, come in a range

of sizes, and include all the same technology that would be expected in a dedicated data centre or larger facility including cooling, environmental monitoring, UPS, CCTV/access control and even fire suppression.

A direct liquid cooled micro data centre can handle as much as 80kW, which is impressive, but only if you need to handle that load – small units starting at a height of 24U can handle up to 7kW, and still retain the same support technology. These new options, sometimes mean that fully functional and resilient data centres can be hidden away into tiny spaces and disguised to sympathetically fit into an open office environment. Units can even be IP66 rated so they can be located outside if required.

As the old proverb goes “there is more than one way to skin a cat.” This is as true for energy efficiency in the data centre as anything else. The most important aspect of improving efficiency is to learn what is happening in your data centre today, not make assumptions, and consider your future plans when making any investment. Getting this aspect of your organisation’s sustainability plans matters as much as anything else, and it certainly matters to your customers.  JUNE 2021 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 29

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Indoor Air Quality

Mark Bouldin, is healthy buildings expert at Johnson Controls

Understanding occupancy Mark Bouldin believes that to make healthy buildings a reality building owners and managers must focus more closely on the details of occupancy

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he way we work has changed forever – and as businesses decide whether to move forward with remote, flexible, and hybrid working models or return to their pre-pandemic ways, the rule book for FMs and building managers has been thrown out the window.

To make healthy buildings a reality, there is one key area for facilities managers and building owners to focus on: building occupancy. Gone are the days where employees sat at fixed desks, five days a week. Now, workstations will need to be resized, and room space and bookings systems overhauled, not to mention changing the way we access, experience, and benefit from our workplaces. But that really is just the start.

To provide healthy and collaborative spaces for employees to work, businesses often begin with the solution. This is where we are going wrong. In fact, the core problem needs to be fully addressed first, so we can work out how best to solve it. ‘Good enough’ is no longer enough.

There are nine key factors that can affect health and productivity in buildings: light, noise, security, water, moisture, dust and pests, air quality and thermal health. While organisations are always looking for ways to increase performance and occupant comfort – and now mitigate the risk of infections too – these decisions must go beyond the impact on our productivity and happiness at work. They must also take into account wider issues like carbon emissions and air pollution.

Not addressing these problems creates issues down the line that can be extremely detrimental to our health. Put simply, the cycle needs to be broken: unhealthy buildings lead to an unhealthy planet, which results in unhealthy people.

So, who is using your buildings and how are they using them?

Where does occupancy even come in when we need to improve those nine issues? In order to improve, we

To provide healthy spaces for employees don’t start with the solution but find the core problem

need to be constantly monitoring and even predicting occupancy levels. To do so, the optimum levels of occupancy of an area need to be calculated, taking air ventilation and air change rates into account.

For those already in buildings, managers must have the necessary data and technologies to understand the rooms and layouts within their buildings, especially as this changes in light of the pandemic.

Then, they can allocate spaces according to the air change rate – deciding who works where based on where it will be healthiest for them. This ensures the indoor air quality is optimal depending on the

room’s occupancy, which elevates employees’ experience at work.

Buildings have the most significant effect on high-thinking workers, and the right systems can increase the productivity and even the IQ of employees, benefitting businesses and their staff alike.

Variable air conditioning For developers, meanwhile, building usage must be modelled into plans from the very beginning.

Variable air conditioning should be implemented and built into air conditioning design, as this provides variability depending on the occupancy of a room. Rather

than designing buildings around minimum occupancy levels, as is the current norm, developers will need to understand and cater for the maximum occupancy of a building.

This small change could save lives, improving air quality for everyone.

Once this is done, sensors should be installed to vary the air according to occupancy, meaning that the air quality will be at optimum levels no matter the number of people in the room or building.

It’s all well and good prioritising the technologies that will enable buildings to be healthier for people – but this can’t come at the expense of a healthy planet. Both humidity and temperature have an effect on health and comfort, but we wouldn’t encourage air conditioning to be on full at all times, as this will hinder sustainability and efficiency efforts.

There must be a balance.

By focusing on occupancy rather than prioritising sustainability or employee experience, organisations can meet ESG and efficiency targets while also getting the most out of their employees. Here, sensors and other technologies measuring and predicting occupancy levels can do the hard work for us.

To get the most from buildings, however, the data coming from these sensors and the decisions they make need to be measured and understood correctly. Using building performance indicators and matching this against staff data can prove useful, for example to monitor staff sick days in comparison to building health data, to get a better overall picture of the impact of buildings on staff.

Then, if anything is wrong, it can be fixed – prioritising employee health without undue costs or sacrificing the health of the planet.

Now businesses are reopening offices, the need to understand and prioritise occupancy is paramount.

Organisations should revaluate how they will now use their buildings, what’s changed, and what measures are going to be put in place to ensure employee health and safety. After a year spent in our homes and outside, now is the time to take the buildings we work in seriously. If a business values its workforce, the occupancy of its buildings should be a main priority. 

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Indoor Air Quality

Tom Wodcke is product manager at Vent-Axia

Healthy air, healthy lives Tom Wodcke explains how improving ventilation in social housing is key to improving indoor air quality and so resident health

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een to improve housing stock in recent years, many social housing providers have undertaken energy efficiency improvements to help provide better-insulated, warmer homes for their residents. But, if ventilation hasn’t been considered when these improvements have been made this can lead to condensation and mould and have a negative impact on IAQ. Not only is this bad for resident health, it can lead to damage to the fabric of a building.

Add to that the risk of disrepair cases and landlords need to ensure that they have addressed this to keep residents happy and healthy but also to meet the requirements of the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. Landlords have a duty of care to ensure residents are living in a healthy environment.

This act sets in stone the importance of effective ventilation in social housing. The Act makes it a legal requirement that rental properties, both social housing and private, are fit for human habitation at the beginning and throughout a tenancy, including the need for effective ventilation and freedom from damp. This raises the importance of good indoor air quality in the home with its many health

benefits.

There has been a raft of research into the negative effects of poor IAQ on the nation’s health including a 2020 report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Physicians which cited growing evidence linking indoor air pollution to a number of childhood health problems and behavioural problems. ‘The inside story: Health effects of indoor air quality on children and young people’ also warns that IAQ tends to be worse in low quality housing where properties are poorly ventilated. And with 3.6m children in the UK living in such housing, this is a major issue that needs addressing.

Robust standards for IAQ The report recommends that where the building owners have a duty of care towards occupants, such as with social housing, there should be standards for maintaining IAQ. To do this, it advises revising the Building Regulations by setting robust legally binding performance standards for IAQ including ventilation rates and maximum concentration levels for specific pollutants.

The Royal Colleges’ report followed hot on the heels of the publication of the National Institute

of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance ‘Indoor Air Quality at Home’. This guidance confirms the critical role ventilation plays in removing potential pollutants and improving IAQ and advises people to ensure rooms are well ventilated by extractor fans, trickle vents, cooker hoods or by opening windows, especially when undertaking activities that lead to poor IAQ. For local authorities the NICE guidance recommends prioritising IAQ and embedding plans for improving it into an existing plan or strategy.

To help tackle condensation and mould effectively in social housing there are a range of solutions available. For refurbishments, Positive Input Ventilation (PIV), such Many options are available to tackle condensation and mould in social housing

as Vent-Axia’s Lo-Carbon PoziDry Pro and PoziDry Compact Pro, works with the natural air infiltration, controlling the air path through the home, preventing the migration of damaging humidity and pollutants, such as VOCs. Other options include bathroom and kitchen extractor fans with the latest fans offering powerful, quiet, efficient ventilation while being quick and easy to install, low maintenance and reliable.

For example, there are continuous running filterless unitary fans available such as Vent-Axia’s intelligent Lo-Carbon Response 7.

This type of fan boasts quiet, efficient ventilation, providing good IAQ. For properties where a longer duct run is needed, variable speed fans with increased airflow performance are ideal as the fan speed can simply be turned up as required, providing efficient ventilation whilst still maintaining low noise levels.

Meanwhile, fans that have a digital control menu help speed up install and commissioning. A settings lock is also beneficial to prevent tampering. Plus, this type of fan features a datalogger that tracks fan usage to ensure it is used as intended.

This includes data such as days run, hours on trickle or boost, and even more specifically, hours run on boost triggered by the humidity sensor. If a fan has been switched off and mould appears, the landlord will realise why and can discuss a solution with residents. This helps landlords make homes safer for residents by helping to avoid condensation and mould and helps with record keeping for disrepair cases.

But it’s not just about installing the right ventilation for each home.

Where ventilation such as PIV and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) is installed, a planned maintenance schedule is essential.

With the importance of good IAQ established it is important for landlords to utilise all the tools available to them to help ensure they provide healthy homes, free from condensation and mould. And with a range of mechanical ventilation options designed specifically for social housing available, housing providers should be able to find the right solution for each of their properties. 

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Accelerating investment and decarbonisation of the public sector estate

Co-owned by the Greater London Authority and Local Partnerships, Re:fit is the framework of choice for the public sector. It enables change to be delivered at scale and pace, supporting you with the preparation and implementation of programmes of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. This helps reduce carbon emissions, create income and improve the operational performance of your buildings, whilst helping accelerate the journey towards achieving net-zero.

To find out how Rachel and her team can help call on 07825 963 218 or email rachel.toresen-owuor@localpartnerships.gov.uk If you’re based in London please contact retrofitaccelerator@london.gov.uk

@LP_localgov I localpartnerships.org.uk

TALKING HEADS Paul Atherton

Paul Atherton is chief executive officer at Heat Wayv

Heroes or villains of heating?

Paul Atherton believes that heat pumps may play a smaller role in the future heating of our homes. Alternative technologies, such as microwave heating are beginning to find traction

T

he simple act of heating our homes has long had a huge impact on the environment. As a result, a central component of the UK Governments Net Zero strategy is to phase out all gas boilers with the aim of reducing the UK’s growing CO2 emissions by 14 per cent.

Although a necessity, decarbonising home heating presents one of the biggest energy challenges to date, with the transition causing housebuilders and millions of homeowner’s disruptions and requiring significant investment to upgrade systems.

Heat pumps are the proposed alternative to accommodate the nationwide shift in home heating methods, with owners of new-build homes facing the stark reality of prospectively having to choose heat pumps over boilers due to the approaching gas boiler ban.

However, heat pumps come with their fundamental limitations and problems, the appliances are prohibitively expensive to purchase, installations are excessively costly, challenging, and extremely disruptive and in most cases simply not practical or possible in older properties. Indeed, it is widely acknowledged that more than 60 per cent of the UK’s housing stock (16m households) could never accommodate a heat pump even if they wanted to.

However, if heat pumps are not the long-term solution, new alternatives must be explored to ensure a seamless, cost-effective transition from boilers.

Financial savings can evaporate While the initial purchase price of a heat pump is high, that is really only the tip of the cost iceberg. The installation process also causes major issues for those householders undertaking a retrofit project. Significant structural work and disruption to houses and gardens taking many days and sometimes weeks is required, as existing wet wall-mounted heating systems have to be replaced, new,

‘Heat pumps will form a smaller part of the energy mix for UK homes’

Atherton: '60 per cent of the UK's housing stock could never accommodate a heat pump'

expensive replacement radiators have to be purchased to take advantage of the low heat that is generated or staggeringly, an underfloor heating matrix must be installed both downstairs and upstairs, something which most properties simply would not be able to handle.

Heat pumps are most efficient in newer, well-insulated passive properties where very little heat escapes from the house. Older properties with less effective insulation would thus require a larger, more expensive heat pump. In fact, some older houses may require higher temperatures than a heat pump can generate therefore making heat pumps as a replacement for gas boilers impossible.

A more significant and potentially fatal issue is that the majority of heat pumps have an operating temperature limit of 50°C - 55°C, this is not high enough to protect from waterborne pathogens, such as Legionella bacteria which causes a pneumonic infection. Legionnaires’ disease contamination is found in domestic hot water and air conditioning systems where water is being stored and distributed at temperatures below 55°C - 60°C. Moreover, if heat pumping technologies alone cannot deliver the high temperatures required in order

to thermally kill legionella, then the water must be heated an extra 5°C 10°C by an electric immersion heater, thereby adding a level of inefficiency and additional cost.

Alternatives gaining pace There are serious alternatives which are gaining pace, such as microwave technology. This technology uses the exact same principles as a microwave oven, where electricity heats the water which can then be pumped through existing radiators and to taps, showers and baths. This tried and tested technology which is already in our homes aims to offer a simple drop-in replacement for existing gas boilers, costing the same to install and with virtually no maintenance costs, a microwave boiler can directly replace existing gas, LPG, oil and kerosene boilers to deliver on the zero emissions criteria for home heating.

Removing gas boilers is a necessity if we are to meet the global 2050 Net Zero carbon reduction objectives set

by Governments. However, complete heating system replacements are costly and under the current system it has been estimated the cost of heat pump insulation could be up to £20,000 per household, with higher costs in older, rural homes, none of this can be achieved without substantial government support costing potentially tens of billions of taxpayers’ money.

Simply put, whichever way one looks at the economics or structural viability, heat pumps will form a smaller part of the energy mix for UK householders than is being suggested and this has to be acknowledged quickly by government and industry thought leaders, such that viable alternatives can be brought into production to meet the 2025 gas boiler ban for new build homes, as well as the ever-growing demand for a green-energy replacement to fossil fuelled boilers, to ensure that Net Zero targets can be achieved for everyone and in every home. 

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DIRECTORY CONTACTS

To advertise in this section contact classified sales on Tel: 01889 577222 Email: classified@eibi.co.uk www.eibi.co.uk

Air Conditioning

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TURNKEYaM&T Meter and monitoring any utility. In house designed hardware and software.

SME’s, City Wide Projects, Large Organisations. Pulse, Modbus, Mbus. www.energymeteringtechnology.com enquiries@energymeteringtechnology.com Tel: 01628 664056

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LET US SOLVE YOUR METERING PROBLEMS

EMT resolve issues with meters and aM&T systems that have been badly fitted and are inappropriate or wrongly installed, systems that have never functioned properly and unsuitable or wrongly configured software.

We have considerable knowledge and can help assess, recommission or replace any aM&T system to render them as useful tools for your utility management needs.

For more information on how we can help, Tel: 01628 664056 Email: enquiries@meteringtech.com www.energymeteringtechnology.com

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