| ENERGY-POSITIVE HOMES kWh HEAT PUMPS 20,000 18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 - 1 ot Pl d ed he -b tc wo ta t e l id ca pi em Ty ls a c pi Ty 2 ot Pl 3 ot Pl 4 ot Pl 7 ot Pl 8 ot Pl 9 ot Pl 10 ot Pl Figure 4: Two-bed home energy benchmarking 6,000 4,000 Feb 21 Mar 21 Apr 21 May 21 Jun 21 Jul 21 Aug 21 Sep 21 Oct 21 Nov 21 Dec 21 Jan 22 2,000 kWh 0 home with specialst medical equiptment, the other was one of the four-bed homes. Detailed analysis of the submeter data showed that the residents of this home were very high energy users with far higher than expected plugsocket loads, cooking, lighting, and towel rail usage. They also used considerably more hot water than anyone else on the site, averaging more than 400 litres/day. While this home did not achieve the energy-positive target, it was still exceptionally energy efficient, ending the year with a net energy demand from the grid of less than 1,900kWh. Energy costs In addition to energy and carbon targets, the residents energy costs were at the forefront of the project teams minds. These homes had to be affordable to run and part of the solution to fuel poverty, not just environmental issues. While the social landlord has no control over the energy supplier or tariff chosen by residents, it did provide recommendations on tariffs that will work with the systems within the homes, to produce the lowest bills. One such tariff was created by a partnership between -2,000 -4,000 -6,000 -8,000 -10,000 -12,000 Month Monthly import Monthly export Cumulative energy balance Figure 5: Average energy imported from, and exported to, the Grid for two-bed homes one energy supplier and the battery supplier; if the residents used this tariff, they would have achieved exceptionally low bills over the monitoring period, with a negative bill over the 12 months their home energy systems earning money, rather than costing money! Given the current energy crisis and spiralling costs, the residents of these homes may be among the few people in the UK who need not worry about their energy bills this coming winter. After the 12-month monitoring period, from February 2021 to January 2022, the conclusion was exceptionally positive, with the whole design and construction team delighted with performance. The residents were also very pleased with their homes, noting that they were comfortable, warm, and had extremely low energy bills. CJ EIMEAR MOLONEY is a director at Hoare Lea JOHN LLOYD is a at technical lead at Sero MARK DAVIES is a developement project manager at Wales & West Housing FLOOR MOUNTED LIFTING STATIONS 0118 9821 555 Compli 1000 Compli 2500 DrainMajor Compli 400 50 August 2022 www.cibsejournal.com www.jung-pumps.co.uk