Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES MAY 2023 21 FEATURE ELECTRICAL SERVICES Enter themodern electric storage heater.This product has come a longway in recent years, and yet many people remain scarred by memories of stifling heat at 3am and a roomthat is stone cold by breakfast time.The bestmodern electric storage heaters are fully digitally controllable, they heat up quickly, use convection (as opposed to radiant heat) to heat the space, and have a core that delivers continual latent heat emission, reducing energy consumption and savingmoney. My role leans heavily into R&D and innovation, and I am continually looking to find and incorporate new ways of creating and conserving energy into our electric radiators. I am also mindful of the key considerations for retrofit projects: balancing cost with ease of installation, heating effectiveness, and the ability to control energy usage. As an example; under test conditions, our storage heater performance was measured against a direct acting heater and oil filled radiator. The results showed that the direct acting heater and oil filled radiator both required 24 hours’ worth of electricity tomaintain a consistent room temperature (22 degrees) over a 24-hour period. In contrast, the storage heater produced consistent heat throughout the 24-hour period but only consumed electricity for 59% of that time. Performance statistics such as these, strengthened by our Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Huddersfield, are starting to attract interest from commercial sector specifiers and bust the storage heater myths of old. Joined up thinking Heaters are just one part of the picture. I believe that collaboration is key to tackling this challenge, along with a “fabric first” approach; reducing the amount of heat needed in a space by prioritising effective insulation. There are many innovative new and emerging technologies, all operating in isolation, and no single solution. Most technology and product providers are working in silos. When achieving the end goal of creating a zero-emission heating system, it needs them to think outside the box and work together. Equally, energy efficiency should be considered as a priority at the start of any refurbishment project and should ideally drive the design and development process as far as is practicable within the limits of the building envelope. As an industry we need to think bigger and we all need to look beyond our own industries. I see real value in combining technologies to create truly futureproofed heating systems. Using a smart hot water tank in conjunction with solar PV technology can create a solar powered hot water battery. Link this with a modern convection storage radiator, which is designed to deliver controllable, consistent heat while controlling energy usage, and you have a sustainable, energy- and cost-effective heating system that even has the potential to sell back to the grid. Bringing technologies together has the capacity to create efficient heating systems that will help commercial building owners and tenants save on heating bills. We are already seeing this within our own sector, where replacing a traditional wet system with our electric storage heater in a medical practice is making significant savings on energy bills. And, a leading red brick university is seeing the benefits of a zone- controlled heating system in student accommodation where rooms are only heated when in use. Imagine how those savings could be multiplied if we added solar PV, a smart water tank and battery storage in to the mix. It’s time for us all to look beyond the boundaries of our respective industry sectors and seek opportunities to create something bigger. More information can be found at www.trustelectricheating.co.uk