SAVING ENERGY AT HOME
HOME ENERGY SURVEY: We’re supporting the Norfolk Net Zero Communities project, who have been meeting residents across the county to learn about how they’re improving their homes’ energy efficiency, any obstacles they face, and the kind of support that would help.
They’ve put together a short survey we’d like to share with you —just 10 minutes to complete—and you’ll have the chance to win a £50 Love2Shop voucher. We’d be really grateful if you’d share your feedback and pass the survey on to anyone who might be interested. You can find it here: https://form.jotform.com/250153358953359. It’s open until midnight on Sunday, 23rd Feb.
They’ve put together a short survey we’d like to share with you —just 10 minutes to complete—and you’ll have the chance to win a £50 Love2Shop voucher. We’d be really grateful if you’d share your feedback and pass the survey on to anyone who might be interested. You can find it here: https://form.jotform.com/250153358953359. It’s open until midnight on Sunday, 23rd Feb.
Click on a poster below to see full details:
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Download our free Action Plan from the link.
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Air source heat pump installed in Eaton Rise, Norwich, by Octopus Energy
(their statements in italics) by Paul Donnachie (21/1/24)
Background
Air source heat pumps work like a fridge- in reverse!- extracting heat from outside air to provide central heating and hot water. The origin of the Air Source Heat Pump dates from 1755 when Scottish physicist William Cullen designed the first refrigeration machine.
They compare favourably with gas boilers. For every 1 kWh of energy in, a gas boiler generally produces 0.8 kWh of energy out (heat); the same input to a heat pump produces 3.2 kWh of energy (heat).
An air pump is therefore nearly 4 times more efficient, and reduces carbon footprint:
“By switching to an electric heat pump we estimate it will reduce your personal heating carbon footprint by 67% or 2.6 tonnes of CO2 a year. That's the equivalent of carbon sequestered by 83 fully grown trees each year!”
Planning
“You may have additional costs to pay for planning permission, building control fee and /or a Structural Engineers Survey and/or EPC Assessment”
Legislation – Schedule 2, Part 14, Class G of the General Permitted Development Order sets out the criteria for domestic air source heat pump installations which don’t require planning permission eg our installation which was “Permitted Development”- but you should check for your specific situation.
Installation costs
“Octopus Energy Services is an MCS accredited installer. Our installations enable you to access funding from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). This is a government incentive to allow homeowners to access funding to support the cost of installing the selected renewable technology to their homes.”
The BUS is open to domestic and small non-domestic properties in England and Wales. It runs from 2022 to 2025, initially offering a £5,000 (now £7,500) grant toward an air source heat pump. Applying this grant meant we paid £5,808; Octopus were £3000 cheaper on average than 3 other quotes received. Our gas boiler was also approaching end of life and replacing it would have cost over £3000.
To qualify for the grant you need a recent Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for your property (ours cost £50 to renew) and a formal site survey (which Octopus included in their costs). The installation (and running) cost will depend on the size of a property and its energy performance. Ours is a detached 1950s house with a current EPC rating of D.
For the air pump to work efficiently a property must be well insulated, and some radiators may need replacing with larger ones. We had to upgrade our loft insulation (£500) and needed 5 new radiators (included in the cost). The new radiators were of similar size to existing, but deeper- 4 inches deep in smaller rooms and 6 inches in larger ones(compared with 3 inches for existing)
.
Electricity usage (for pump + all other electrical appliances)
Octopus also installed a smart meter, providing daily energy usage figures. Over the year August 2022 to August 2023 our actual energy consumption was as follows;
(their statements in italics) by Paul Donnachie (21/1/24)
Background
Air source heat pumps work like a fridge- in reverse!- extracting heat from outside air to provide central heating and hot water. The origin of the Air Source Heat Pump dates from 1755 when Scottish physicist William Cullen designed the first refrigeration machine.
They compare favourably with gas boilers. For every 1 kWh of energy in, a gas boiler generally produces 0.8 kWh of energy out (heat); the same input to a heat pump produces 3.2 kWh of energy (heat).
An air pump is therefore nearly 4 times more efficient, and reduces carbon footprint:
“By switching to an electric heat pump we estimate it will reduce your personal heating carbon footprint by 67% or 2.6 tonnes of CO2 a year. That's the equivalent of carbon sequestered by 83 fully grown trees each year!”
Planning
“You may have additional costs to pay for planning permission, building control fee and /or a Structural Engineers Survey and/or EPC Assessment”
Legislation – Schedule 2, Part 14, Class G of the General Permitted Development Order sets out the criteria for domestic air source heat pump installations which don’t require planning permission eg our installation which was “Permitted Development”- but you should check for your specific situation.
Installation costs
“Octopus Energy Services is an MCS accredited installer. Our installations enable you to access funding from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). This is a government incentive to allow homeowners to access funding to support the cost of installing the selected renewable technology to their homes.”
The BUS is open to domestic and small non-domestic properties in England and Wales. It runs from 2022 to 2025, initially offering a £5,000 (now £7,500) grant toward an air source heat pump. Applying this grant meant we paid £5,808; Octopus were £3000 cheaper on average than 3 other quotes received. Our gas boiler was also approaching end of life and replacing it would have cost over £3000.
To qualify for the grant you need a recent Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for your property (ours cost £50 to renew) and a formal site survey (which Octopus included in their costs). The installation (and running) cost will depend on the size of a property and its energy performance. Ours is a detached 1950s house with a current EPC rating of D.
For the air pump to work efficiently a property must be well insulated, and some radiators may need replacing with larger ones. We had to upgrade our loft insulation (£500) and needed 5 new radiators (included in the cost). The new radiators were of similar size to existing, but deeper- 4 inches deep in smaller rooms and 6 inches in larger ones(compared with 3 inches for existing)
.
Electricity usage (for pump + all other electrical appliances)
Octopus also installed a smart meter, providing daily energy usage figures. Over the year August 2022 to August 2023 our actual energy consumption was as follows;
We will switch from a gas cooker to electric when we update our kitchen so the real average daily energy consumption was 18.2kwh, or 6648kwh per annum.
Our total annual energy bill was:
• With gas boiler: £2,898
• With heat pump: £2,195 (and associated annual energy reduction of 75%)The true extra capital cost is the difference between what we paid (£5808) and the replacement of our gas boiler (£3000) ie £2808. With an annual £703 saving the payback period for us will be 4 years (£2808/£723).
Had the new, increased grant of £7500 been available the true capital cost would have been £308, and a payback period of just over 5 months.
Installation and commissioning
This took five days and was unavoidably disruptive and often noisy- in our case floorboards had to be lifted to run pipes to a new hot water tank, and five radiators had to be replaced. However, the installation team were efficient and friendly, and it was completed on time without mishap.
New pipes run from the air pump up the front walls of our house, and through them to the new hot water tank. These have protective black cladding, which does affect the look of the house- I built a pitched, tiled roof atop our flat-roofed porch to conceal them (£500- not included in capital cost as I had planned to do it to conceal the flat roof anyway).Octopus also decommissioned the gas supply and removed the gas boiler, outdoor meter and pipework which improved the appearance of that part of the house. You need to consider siting of pump and pipework, and if in amore prominent position how their appearance might be softened.
Our total annual energy bill was:
• With gas boiler: £2,898
• With heat pump: £2,195 (and associated annual energy reduction of 75%)The true extra capital cost is the difference between what we paid (£5808) and the replacement of our gas boiler (£3000) ie £2808. With an annual £703 saving the payback period for us will be 4 years (£2808/£723).
Had the new, increased grant of £7500 been available the true capital cost would have been £308, and a payback period of just over 5 months.
Installation and commissioning
This took five days and was unavoidably disruptive and often noisy- in our case floorboards had to be lifted to run pipes to a new hot water tank, and five radiators had to be replaced. However, the installation team were efficient and friendly, and it was completed on time without mishap.
New pipes run from the air pump up the front walls of our house, and through them to the new hot water tank. These have protective black cladding, which does affect the look of the house- I built a pitched, tiled roof atop our flat-roofed porch to conceal them (£500- not included in capital cost as I had planned to do it to conceal the flat roof anyway).Octopus also decommissioned the gas supply and removed the gas boiler, outdoor meter and pipework which improved the appearance of that part of the house. You need to consider siting of pump and pipework, and if in amore prominent position how their appearance might be softened.
The water supply for our old system was gravity fed from a cold water tank in the loft. That was replaced with a pressurised system, so we also had to replace our “Power shower” (also due for replacement) with a mixer shower compatible with a pressurised system.
Noise
There are various misleading accounts regarding air pump noise. Octopus advised me:
“We performed a noise assessment during your survey which passed. We considered all the boundaries nearby the heat pump and nothing was flagged as an issue. The heat pump also has anti vibration feet that take in most of the noise that it emits. Also, it will only reach 62 Db when it is working to its full capacity (which barely happens since they can cope with very low temperatures), most of the time it will be around 42 Db.”
In reality, ours (when operating) is no louder than a microwave. It’s sited at the front of our house and beyond the minimums required distance from our neighbours boundary.
Some pros and cons
Our gas boiler heated the house faster on cold mornings; the heat pump takes longer to reach the temperature set on our thermostat, so is timed to come on from 6am. However, in colder weather the gas boiler was only on from 7-9am, and then 4-10pm, and we didn't have radiators on in bedrooms. The heat pump works most efficiently by being on all day and with radiators on in all rooms- as advised by Octopus energy. That is a particular advantage for these of us who are retired and spend more time at home.
Maintenance
“Covered by a 2 year workmanship warranty and a 5 year manufacturer warranty for the heat pump. According to the Energy Saving Trust, you can expect your heat pump to last 20 years or more compared to 10 to 15 years for a gas boiler”
Next steps
Octopus are also now installing solar panels. We're on their waiting list for when they start work in the East of England. If that proves as cost effective as the pump we will proceed- and especially if the government roll out further grants to encourage local power generation!
Noise
There are various misleading accounts regarding air pump noise. Octopus advised me:
“We performed a noise assessment during your survey which passed. We considered all the boundaries nearby the heat pump and nothing was flagged as an issue. The heat pump also has anti vibration feet that take in most of the noise that it emits. Also, it will only reach 62 Db when it is working to its full capacity (which barely happens since they can cope with very low temperatures), most of the time it will be around 42 Db.”
In reality, ours (when operating) is no louder than a microwave. It’s sited at the front of our house and beyond the minimums required distance from our neighbours boundary.
Some pros and cons
Our gas boiler heated the house faster on cold mornings; the heat pump takes longer to reach the temperature set on our thermostat, so is timed to come on from 6am. However, in colder weather the gas boiler was only on from 7-9am, and then 4-10pm, and we didn't have radiators on in bedrooms. The heat pump works most efficiently by being on all day and with radiators on in all rooms- as advised by Octopus energy. That is a particular advantage for these of us who are retired and spend more time at home.
Maintenance
“Covered by a 2 year workmanship warranty and a 5 year manufacturer warranty for the heat pump. According to the Energy Saving Trust, you can expect your heat pump to last 20 years or more compared to 10 to 15 years for a gas boiler”
Next steps
Octopus are also now installing solar panels. We're on their waiting list for when they start work in the East of England. If that proves as cost effective as the pump we will proceed- and especially if the government roll out further grants to encourage local power generation!
From John Moore, NZCS – Brief Introduction to Saving Energy in your Home
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With the increasing need for us all to reduce our carbon emissions and the costs of fossil fuels continuing to rise, many of us are looking at the various ways of doing this. To give residents more information on the subject in February 2023 we invited John Moore of NZCS to a meeting to talk to us. John runs his own company advising organisations and companies working towards net zero carbon and is one of Norwich’s Climate Commissioners. He gave us an excellent overview and much useful advice about what we can do at home to save energy - his presentation is below.
John was followed by 3 Eaton Rise residents who talked about their experiences with the various energy saving devices they’d had installed. Notes from their talks are also below. |
Click here to view a PDF of John Moore's presentation
Residents Experiences
From Richard Bearman, Constable Road
Solar hot water tubes were installed in 2007 shortly after we moved here as part of a roof extension over the garage. The roof insulation was also increased to 270mm in the new and old loft spaces, wherever accessible. These tubes provide plenty of 60deg. hot water in summer, but only up to about 40 deg C in winter so need a boost from the gas central heating system.
Solar panels were installed on our south-east facing roof in 2010 as soon as the Feed in Tariff (FIT) was announced. A total of 12 x 215w panels were installed, together with an inverter located in the garage (at a cost of £11,732) and have performed very well so far. The major benefit is the FIT which was 40p/unit generated when we started getting our quarterly payments in 2011 and goes up by inflation each year so is now 60p/unit. Based on a 5 year average the FIT yields approx. £1060 income per year, depending on sunshine levels, and the last year’s income up to October 2022 was £1349, above average. As our annual energy consumption bill was about £1049 until 2019, it was well covered by the FIT income. Following the major price rises in both gas and electricity over the last 2 years, this is no longer true. But if the FIT guarantee lasts for 25 years, as was advertised, then it provides a really good buffer to offset increasing fossil fuel prices.
Rainwater recovery – we also have a 3,000 litre rainwater recovery tank under the patio which takes the rain from our house roof. The water (which is not potable) is used to flush the toilets and in the washing machine. This saves us approx 40% on our metered water but in long dry periods without any rain the tank runs out after about 6 weeks.
From Toby Harris, Constable Road
Our 4 Kw set of 14 panels at 35 Constable Road cost us £9,676 back in 2012 and face South towards the golf course, though in winter their massive oak trees and Scots pines at the back of our garden are tall enough to shade the panels. Total income so far £8,693 so they are nearly paid for, bringing in around £870 per year. Since that is free of income tax, it is worth £1,450 a year to me. We wondered about installing batteries but the payback time was about 20 years, which did not really seem good value at our age.
From Stephen Spouncer, Lowther Road
In 2014, we gutted, refurbished and extended our bungalow, trying to make it warm, efficient, airtight, cosy and as green as possible. We didn’t go about it in an overly scientific way in that we haven’t calculated every penny or every unit we could save or have saved since. We did what we could for the money we had.
We looked at lots of energy saving schemes. Some things were out of our reach, eg. a ground source heat pump was priced at upwards of £10k. An air source pump came out at between £5k and £10k but there was nowhere to site the fan unit on an exterior wall within regulations, or on our patio and aesthetics was a factor. So we had to opt for a traditional combi boiler.
Insulation & MVHR - we stipulated to our architect that we wanted good insulation so our small extension is a timber construction with insulated roof, double-glazed windows and triple-glazed at the north facing front.
We didn’t want ‘trickle vents’ in the windows as previous experience had found these to be draughty so we opted for a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery System which is very common in Scandinavian homes and we’d seen it in operation. It’s a ducting system thatgives a constant supply of fresh air into the house and extracts the old air. Heat from the extracted stale air is recovered via a heat exchanger unit in the loft. This warms the incoming air slightly which means the central heating system starts heating our home from a slightly higher temperature base. Other benefits: the air is regularly changed throughout the house, has pollen filters and there’s no need to open/close windows. So in the bathroom after a shower for example, there’s no need to open the window to get rid of steam because the damp air is constantly ducted away. Sourced from ADM Systems. https://admsystems.co.uk/heat-recovery-ventilation/what-is-an-mvhr/
We also installed underfloor heating provided by gas and hot water under the extension, and some retrofit and low-consumption electric under-floor systems in the two bathrooms which is cheap to run and creates very pleasant environment.
Solar panels - we installed 8 solar panels (at a cost of £3000) bought through Norwich City Council’s Solar Together scheme, a council-led energy scheme where residents and businesses could save up to a third on solar and battery installation. They were installed in less than a day and positioned on the south facing roof down the side of the house, invisible from the road. We also received a 10-year warranty and a Generation Smart Meter and have had no issues since.
The council now has a new scheme providing free energy efficiency improvements working with E.ON. This covers loft insulation, underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, and solar panels for homes across Norwich at no cost to residents with 100% government funded grants. There are eligibility rules, more information at: https://tinyurl.com/bd2tjkr
Feed in Tariff - some of the electricity we generate goes back to the grid for which we get paid by the Government. They pay for 50% of what we generate in the form of Feed in Tariff (FiT) payments which are set nationally and index-linked. It’s a few pence per unit generated. The other 50% it is assumed we are using ourselves.
Has it paid off?
Since 2015, when they were installed for £3000, we have earned a total of £2205.57 in FiT payments. To recover our investment, we have £795 left to pay. In 2022 we generated £368 in FiT payments, so we’re on course to pay off in 2 years.
From Paul Donnachie, Lowther Road- Air Source Heat Pump Installation: To view Paul Donnachie's PDF presentation, click here