Embracing a technology-agnostic approach

With energy efficiency gaining increasing significance in the construction industry, BCIA president Stacey Lucas underlines why embracing a technology-agnostic approach could play a vital role in the decarbonisation of heat and buildings.

The UK government’s focus on carbon emissions and achieving net zero by 2050 means that the decarbonisation of buildings will play a vital role moving forward. In fact, it’s now imperative the built environment considers every possible technology and innovation available to it. However, new findings by the Sustainable Energy Association (SEA) have revealed that industry leaders and professionals aren’t utilising the many low-carbon technologies and the benefits they can bring. 

Despite the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings requiring a collective effort from industry leaders and policymakers, many built environment professionals are either uncertain on or unaware of the diverse range of low carbon technologies and the advantages of an outcomes-based approach to decarbonisation. 

This has led the SEA to call for the UK government to take a more ‘technology-agnostic’ approach to decarbonising heating in buildings. Rather than focusing on just one possible solution, this would mean policymakers and industry leaders remain open-minded when evaluating and considering various technologies and platforms to solve the issue of carbon emissions as a result of heating buildings. 

While the need for the UK government to incorporate this approach into policy is increasingly gaining significance, it’s also pertinent for the construction industry to look inwards at what more can be done to educate the public, and even sections of the building sector, on the range of low carbon technologies available and how they can be incorporated in a holistic approach. 

Not the only solution

In a bid to reduce carbon emissions and help the UK reach its net zero target for 2050, the government is recommending the installation of heat pumps. With a much higher efficiency than existing heating technologies, these systems can lead to a significant reduction in energy demand. In fact, for every unit of electricity a heat pump uses, it moves three to four times as much heat into a property as a gas boiler produces. 

Working similarly to air conditioners and refrigerators, but in reverse, heat pumps heat homes and other properties by using electricity to move heat from external sources to inside the building. More efficient than electric heaters and storage heaters, they are also cleaner than gas boilers, as they don’t emit air pollutants.  

Furthermore, a recent study by the Energy and Power Group at the University of Oxford revealed that UK households alone could reduce carbon emissions from heating by nearly 66% in the short term, just by using a heat pump instead of a gas boiler.

However, while heat pumps have traditionally been seen as a crucial tool in the reduction of emissions from domestic heat, they’re not necessarily the panacea the government hopes they can be. After all, they’re not suitable for every building or construction, and, if used by thousands across the UK, they could put too high a strain on the National Grid. 

We have seen examples where the electrification needed on a project to convert to heat pumps, was beyond the capability of the electrical grid infrastructure in the area and major investment would be required to increase the capacity. By installing and optimising a BMS, the project made such reductions on the requirement from the grid that, along with heat pumps, the power requirement was so much less that there was no need for any upgrade to the existing grid infrastructure anymore.

This is a perfect example of technologies coming together to provide an ideal solution. If all heat pump installations also had a BMS working at optimum levels, imagine the difference that could be made! That is why it is crucial to take a more comprehensive approach to the wider range of technologies on offer, and to recognise the importance of the beating heart behind it all – building controls. 

Holistic approach

While heat pumps are an incredibly useful innovation and definitely a worthwhile consideration for building owners and contractors wanting to reduce the carbon emissions of a property, it’s important to understand that those alone may not be enough to achieve the results the UK needs if it’s to reach its target of net zero by 2050. 

Finding a balance between the use of heat pumps and other low-carbon technologies should be the ultimate goal for everyone in the built environment. Indeed, it will be incredibly important for decision-makers to incorporate a diverse range of low carbon technologies, such as building controls, solar panels and heat pumps, into heat and building policy. 

Building controls form a superb basis on which to build systems that can significantly reduce carbon emissions in the UK building stock. Unfortunately, building controls and related management systems are not understood and often ‘value engineered’ out at the design stage of a project, but they can actually provide real value in terms of saving costs in the long-run and drastically reducing emissions.

In fact, building controls can provide up to 30% energy and carbon savings, with a short payback time of 5.8 years on average. This is lower capital cost and shorter payback periods than other low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps. 

Building controls help save emissions by optimising a building’s energy usage, in areas such as temperature, humidity and air quality. The building control system itself is able to reduce embedded carbon that many other carbon-saving heating controls are unable to. With the ability to have much of the infrastructure wireless, a building control system decreases the need for extensive wiring infrastructure to be installed, therefore reducing the embedded carbon in new construction projects. 

Whilst building controls alone can make a massive difference in reducing a building’s carbon output, if a holistic approach is taken and it is installed along with other green technologies, then this is where it could be a game changer.

■  Stacey Lucas is President of the Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA)