Superhomes

Decarbonising Irish Homes

Paul Kenny, B.E. C. Eng.Chief ExecutiveTipperary Energy Agency

31st January 2017

• An Initiative/ project of the Tipperary Energy Agency– Non-Profit, Non-statutory Public Good Agency under Tipperary County Council– Established and works on the approach of reducing Irelands Carbon emission’s

• Funded and supported by SEAI

• Financially Managed/ Audited by

• Supported & backed by: (EEOS)

• Parallel Research: LIT, UL, IERC, UCD• Financial packages by AIB.

Who is Superhomes?

DRIVERS FOR DEEP RETROFIT

2006 House of Tomorrow Shallow Retrofit 80 homes (F to D)

EU SERVE project 400 buildings E1 to B2 (HES Pilot)

2013-2015 ~1000 fuel poverty/ Shallow F to E

Super-HomesD2 to A2/3 Deep Retrofit

Why Superhomes?“We’re frustrated with lack of depth and continued use of fossil fuels. We need deeper, faster and renewable retrofit”

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000 Delivered Fuel Energy Vs DEAP [retrofitted houses]

TheoreticalLinear (Theoret-ical)MonitoredLinear (Monitored)

KWh/

m2/

Year

Cold houses

What was wrong with traditional/ shallow retrofit?• Some houses were very leaky / poor air tightness.• Needed to tackle oil boilers as they are expensive to run & high

environmental cost.• Many houses with damp/ mould/ condensation/ poor air quality.• Single measure grant “rules” rigid (to ensure value for money) don’t

cover (cost) of challenging area’s:– Warm roof (dormers and flat roof’s)– Knee walls– Light tunnels

• All houses are slightly different:– House holders need advice– House holders need education– 75% of homeowners who completed Superhomes retrofits stated “lack of trust in the

advice they were receiving prevented them doing a deep retrofit before Superhomes”

Drivers: Drivers for Superhomes

Domestic CO2 reduction options

• Passive House Retrofit• At generational retrofit (30-50 years) –

when large works being undertaken:– External insulation to foundation, and

through soffit.– Remove ceilings, membrane

installation, and replace floor.– New windows & doors, airtight to

fabric.– Airtightness to 0.6-2 ACH; – HRV, External airsource stoves,

heatpumps with underfloor heating.– 80k+ additional cost Vs standard

deep renovation (re-wire/ plastering/ plumbing)

– BER of 40-60 kWh/M2/annum. – €200-€400 to heat.– 85%+ Reduction in Energy– 1.8M houses @80k = 144Bn Euro.

Superhomes:• At deep retrofit w/o long payback

fabric upgrades but higher ongoing heat use using RES-E (via grid)– External insulation where required; – Achieve moderate Air tightness.– New front doors.– New windows where required; – Demand controlled extract ventilation.– Heatpumps designed to COP 3– 20-40k cost. (28k in 2015)– BER of A3/B1 kWh/M2/annum. (67 in

2015) – €400- €600 to heat Vs €1800– 1.8M houses @28k = 50Bn Euro.– €2Bn/ Annum Vs <€200M today

What was wrong with traditional/ shallow retrofit?• Minimum Insulation / AT standards.• Carefully designed ventilation system• Carefully designed room by room heat load analysis• Retrofit Heat Pump with large radiators/ UFCH• PV Optional (80% so far)• Night rate electricity• Control to do Hot Water @ night mainly• Control to maintain low flow temperatures matched with outside weather• Steady high air-quality, constant temperatures- high comfort.

Drivers: What is Superhomes Technically?

Superhomes 2015/6

Drivers for Retrofit: Why people “want” to do deep retrofit?

Improving the Comfort in my home

Reducing fossil fuel use and improving the Environmental performance of my home.

Cost of heating my home

Improving the health of the occupants of my home

Showing others the benefits of deep retrofit

Its part of an overall retrofit, sensible to do it now.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Drivers of retrofit

Drivers for Retrofit: Why people don’t do deep retrofit?

The hassle of organising all the different works

The understanding of what and how to improve my home specifically.

Access to cheap finance

Cost of the works

Need support in selecting and supervising contractors

Disruption to our home durning the works

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Barriers to Retrofit from Householders

Superhomes 2015

How do people finance deep retrofit?- Finance (loans) isn’t the only barrier – often over stated.- Several modes of finance required

- None - savings.- 30-70% short term, unsecured, simple, shallower measures.- 70% plus secured, cheap, long term, more expensive measures.

No fi-nancing needed

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%0%10%20%30%40%50%60%

Level of financing required

Superhomes 2015/6

The real barrier to deep retrofit?- People want to see investments pay back in a reasonable time frame.- 80% of people would be happy with 5 to 7.5 years- 60% of people would be happy with 7.5 to 10 years.- Small likely market for retrofit over 10 years payback.- No loan will work for a non-economic project.

Less than or equal to 5

5-7.5 7.5-10 10-12.5 12.5-15 15-20 >200%

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40%

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80%

100%

Cumulative Expected savings

Superhomes 2015

Before & After: Theoretical

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25

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75

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125

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175

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275

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Change in BER level

Series1Series3

65% Reduction

65% reduction from 211 (C3) to 67kWh/m2 (A3)

Actual Savings: Energy

1 2 3 4 5 60

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35000

Energy Utilisation

Before UpgradeAfter Upgrade

House

Annu

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nerg

y Us

age

in k

Wh

80% saving in delivered energy use / 65% primary energy saving

Actual Savings: Cost

70% Saving in Delivered Energy Cost

1 2 3 4 5 6 €-

€500

€1,000

€1,500

€2,000

€2,500

€3,000

Energy Cost

Before UpgradeAfter Upgrade

House

Annu

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nerg

y Us

age

in k

Wh

Actual Savings: Cost

64% Saving in CO2

1 2 3 4 5 60

1000

2000

3000

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5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

CO2 Change

before upgradeafter upgrade

House

Annu

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nerg

y Us

age

in k

Wh

Satisfaction• All Homes reported much warmer homes• Most homes detailed high air quality• Most homes detailed substantial reduction

in condensation, poor air quality, “stuffiness”• All homes detailed high satisfaction rating

“Heat pumps ability to heat my home”.• Significant word of mouth

13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -10

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1

1.5

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COP Per degree external Temperature

HeatingHot water

External Temperature

COP

Average Winter Temperature

Summary• Convincing people to invest is challenging, and independent knowledge is

critical.• Word of mouth works, but too few mouths can talk from experience yet.• The Superhomes process is not just a grant.

• Correct technology, appropriate for house.• Advice, education, support, backup to the householder• Clarity, support, pre-sales pipeline, intermediary, knowledge for contractor.• Grant• Finance if needed.• Research, policy support, customer service feedback etc.• Testing innovation:

• Electric Ireland Solar, • PV & HP Integration• Optimised Commissioning• Time of use tariffs• Connected home

Progress & Plans

2015 2016 2017 20180

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Superhomes: Deep Retrofit with Renewables*

Superhomes Full Poor Deep Retrofit

* All subject to funding on annual basis

• Non profit, public good social enterprise

• Partnership approach• Energy management• Renewable energy and

energy efficiency• Procurement, project mgmt.• Cost effective, value driven

• Paul Kenny• Chief Executive• T: 052 7443090• F: 052 7443012• E: paul@tippenergy.ie • W: www.Tippenergy.ie• W: www.superhomes.ie

Tipperary Energy Agency