Every week the team at Dimplex helps developers to reduce their projects’ carbon emissions and achieve Part L compliance.

Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Dimplex offers substantial support to builders and specifiers who may have been given misleading information on Part L compliance, with a dedicated field specification team and a heating design team who regularly provide guidance over the phone.

Don Newman, Dimplex heating design manager, says: "Part L compliance is no more difficult to achieve with electric heating than with any other fuel. In many cases, we talk directly to the SAP assessor and in one phone call we can show them how to achieve a pass.

"We can also advise on renewable energy sources such as solar thermal water heating or heat pumps which can make a significant and cost effective contribution towards reducing carbon emissions and attaining a Part L pass as well as increasing the Code for Sustainable Homes rating."

Dimplex has also created eight top tips to apply to a building design to reduce the Dwelling Emission Rate (or DER) using electric heating.

1. Install solar hot water

By far the easiest and quickest solution, and often without the need to alter other elements of the building, as it provides up to 60% of a property's water heating needs. For multiple dwelling developments (such as flats) it's possible to use whole block methodology to demonstrate compliance. Solar hot water can be fitted to the top floor apartments to give a lower carbon dioxide emission, which is then traded off against the lower floors, which may have higher emission rates. When inputting the data into SAP, using the net collector area and the (a1) and (no) figures can have a marked improvement on the DER.

2. Heat communal areas

Specify low level background heating in communal areas so adjacent apartment walls no longer count as a heat loss.

3. Reduce hot water cylinder capacity

The Building Regulations' TER calculation assumes a 170L cylinder capacity, so install a smaller cylinder for a carbon saving.

4. Improve air tightness

A relatively low cost way to reduce emissions and electric heating has an advantage here as it reduces the quantity of pipes and holes required in the building fabric.

5. Improve controllability of the heating system

The more controllable the system, the lower the carbon emissions. Use products like Dimplex electronic panel heaters or DuoHeat radiators which score more highly in SAP.

6. Reduce glazed areas

The TER calculation assumes glazing occupies up to 25% of the floor area. In practice, however, the glazed area for flats is generally much lower than this, reducing the level of improvement that specifiers need to achieve.

7. Basic fabric improvements

TER assumes u-values at the 2002 elemental level, ie walls at 0.35, glazing at 2.0, etc. Marginal improvements can reduce the energy required to heat the building, giving an immediate CO2 emissions saving.

8. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery

The use of a high efficiency ventilation system to recover heat reduces energy wastage.

Visit the EcoShowcase Heating and Ventilating page