The Role of Ventilation/ Heat Recovery in Net Zero
Gilberts (Blackpool) Ltd
The UK's Premier Air Distribution Company #WeBreathAair
by Ian Rogers, Gilberts' Sales Director
It’s no secret that as a nation we are wide of the mark when it comes to meeting the current target reduction in carbon emissions. It’s prompting a call for a “step change” in approaches, especially in the construction sector(1). Is it time we were more open to embracing technological advancements?
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The European Environment Agency is challenging the building services industry in particular to take steps: “Improvements to buildings, such as better insulation and decarbonised heating and cooling systems, can help reduce emissions from fossil fuel use” (2). The Government’s Heat & Buildings Strategy similarly lays the challenge at our door: “to meet Net Zero virtually all heat in buildings will need to be decarbonised.” The updated Building Regulations Approved Document F aimed for a 27% reduction in carbon emissions from buildings compared to its previous version. These demands have to be set alongside what our clients want-of course they want lower energy bills for the building occupants, but they also want the buildings to be attractive in their design.
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It is therefore logical – and sensible- to optimise use of natural- free- resources in ventilation, and the use of heat recovery systems. In an ideal world, to achieve net zero in ventilation, we would ventilate all buildings naturally and be able to recover 100% of the internal heat from the exhaust air in the process. Whereas that is still something of a pipedream, we ARE taking steps in that direction….
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The British climate- especially what we have experienced in the past couple of years- is perfectly suited to one step- the hybrid system, that predominantly utilises natural ventilation. Our temperate (warm and wet) weather means we do not on the whole face extremes of heat and cold, so do not in turn need to make significant adjustment to a building’s internal warmth. The focus, with today’s tighter air leakage requirements, is now on keeping the inside at a comfortable temperature via effective ventilation to avoid excess heat gain.
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Hybrid ventilation with heat recovery, such as our Mistrale Fusion Deo- is the latest development. Using natural ventilation as far as possible, with an ultra low energy fan to boost air movement only as and when needed, Fusion Deo uses clever technology to recover up to 75% of exhaust heat, with each unit using less than 34kW/zone/annum (to power the fan, less than. ￡8.50/year!(4))
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When the electricity required to power the fan derives from on-site PV, then the system can actually be carbon negative!
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It gets better: if specified with an LPHW coil, the system can provide heating as well as cooling, thereby negating the capital expenditure and installation costs of ?separate central heating emitters.
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We all tend to focus on the actual systems when considering how to reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint. To get a true picture, we must not forget the associated components. For example, many conventional heat recovery systems are remote from the fa?ade, meaning significant energy can be lost/wasted through lengthy ductwork.
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And of course there is the consideration of embodied carbon- that is used in the manufacture and delivery to site etc of the whole system.
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It is worth also noting that our production processes are design engineered to minimise impact on the environment, and we are investing in our own PV network to similarly cut carbon emissions, helping address the embodied carbon.
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I appreciate that non-domestic/commercial property represents less than 40% of UK buildings, but we are already making improvements: emissions have declined by 21% since 2007(5). So use of low/zero carbon ventilation technology is proving that it can make a positive contribution towards the goal- when specified!
ENDS
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References:
#ventilation #heatrecovery #lowcarbon #carbonegative #sustainability #sustainablebuildingdesign #buildingdesign #buildingservices #webreatheair
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