Published: 17 October 2014
Category: Q&A
Mark asks this question, which concerns Ene3 energy monitoring and the display requirements for it. His question has been answered by the Electrical Contractors Association (Energy Efficiency and Sustainability):
This Q & A is one of thousands posted in our Technical Expertise area, and answered on a daily basis by our Voltimum Experts.
Question: I’ve carried out extensive research and it would appear that the Lifetime Homes Ene3 requirements are unachievable – for the following reasons:
- There is no way to measure the carbon emissions, as each energy supplier gets its energy from a different mix of sources - i.e. gas-fired power stations, wind farms etc.
- Current billing information also cannot be displayed as there is no way that the smart meter can communicate real time tariffs and current billing information back to a display unit?.
However, I’m led to believe that in order to get the two credits for Ene3 compliance, the above is not required, just a display showing current gas / district heating (heat meter) and electrical usage, total energy usage in monetary units, plus historical usage.
Am I correct in this?
Answer: The ‘Grid Average Emissions Factor’ should be used. This changes every year and is available from a number of web sites including DEFRA. Currently it is around 0.54kg CO2e / kwh.
Metering is required on both electricity and other fuel used for heating to get the full two points. The electricity metering device is very simple to install and inexpensive. Most units can be programmed to give the costs, as well as the consumption of electricity.
Gas or fuel oil metering is more expensive and can be either of the invasive sort, where a measuring device is put into the flow, or there is an increasing number of non-invasive devices that measure the rotation of the gas meter dials - or work ultrasonically to measure the flow.
The use of both electricity and fuel metering will give you the full two points, but it is still a very small part of the overall assessment.
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