Barn-style new home uses hybrid system for minimal heating costs
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Initially Alan & Alison were novices in their understanding of renewable technologies and essentially viewed them as a means to an end – a way of securing planning permission. However, as we explained the benefits and the ways these technologies could easily be adopted, they greatly warmed to the idea.
They wanted to have a warm home, hot water and minimal running costs. The prospect of financial assistance, from the Renewable Heat Premium Payment and ultimately the Renewable Heat Incentive, convinced them that the outline scheme would not only provide the comfort levels they wanted but would also be a sound financial investment.
What we did
The heating system was one of the first of its kind in the UK, bringing in a approach used more widely in mainland Europe.
The hybrid heat system uses three heat sources to provide room heating and hot water; seamlessly linked to use the lowest cost source at any given time.
Crucial to this system is the separation of room heating from the production of hot water. On sunny days, water is heated by a Vitosol 200-T solar thermal system on the main roof.
A small gas boiler provides back-up and fast recovery times, if required. This maintains a tank of hot water at 60C, which a heat pump would not reach economically.
Room heating is provided by a Viessmann 200-G ground-source heat pump, with heat collected from a pair of vertical boreholes. This constant source of heat enables the heart pump to reach the highest levels of efficiency.
Peter Leith - GreenACT Ltd comments:
“Rarely is there one technology which provides all the benefits. Hybrid Heating offers an attractive way of combining the best features of several technologies in a single system”