Why you need to evaluate packages of energy measures and not just individual measure By Chris Newman January 22nd, 2011
One of the proposed models for the Green Deal has been to evaluate energy savings based on individual measures installed. In this posting we’ve presented a worked example calculation showing the importance of evaluating installed energy saving measures as packages in evaluating savings and paybacks e.g. for the Green Deal.
When we look at all the options for a property we first of all evaluate the individual effects that each will have if carried out on their own. Importantly we then use our judgement to build packages or suites of complementary measures to understand the net effect of them on the energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
- Upgrading the boiler from one with a permanent pilot light to a top specification boiler – install cost ~ £2,000
- Installing 300mm of mineral wool loft insulation – install cost ~ £300
- Internally insulating the solid external walls with 50mm of PIR insulation – install cost ~ £4,000
- Zoning the house using thermostatic radiator valves to keep upstairs 2 degrees lower than downstairs – install cost ~ £0
- Sealing the leaky ground floor floorboards – install cost ~ £2850
- Insulating under the ground floor suspended floorboards – install cost ~ £1,300
The first graph shows the savings that you could expect by making each of the amendments on their own and keeping everything else constant – the boiler and the walls each are expected to save over 25% of energy bills.
