The evening of Monday 3rd November is the last of the current series of meetings on home energy improvements. In the ideal house, with good insulation and draught proofing, there is little need for heating, but we still need some hot water.
In determining the best hot water solution for any house you first need to identify the expected water usage of people in the house. Studies have shown this varies considerably, from a low use of about 25 litres per person a day to a high use of 60 litres a day.
Clearly, lifestyle changes to lower water use is an obvious first step in reducing energy used for providing water, then any system which is installed can be appropriately sized. There is also the question of do you size your hot water system for the number of people currently living in a house or for the number of people who the house was designed for, which often seems to be bigger…
In the summer the obvious source of hot water is from solar thermal (pictured) and we will be taking a look at how different solar thermal systems work. In the winter gas boilers usually produce hot water, but if you have no need of a boiler for heating, is an immersion heater or an air source heat pump a better option? The renewable heat incentive is there to encourage us to consider alternative heating technologies and the pay backs are over a much shorter time period than solar PV systems.
If this sounds of interest, please come and join us on Monday 3rd November (7:30pm in the New Life Church, Mrs Howard Hall) as we explore heating technologies and the renewable heat incentive, learning from each others experiences.