HOTHOUSE: Hot water provision in homes: Consumption, Storage and Lifestyle

我们必须通过政府指令和必要的立法来应对气候变化，走向低碳的未来。同时，国家必须保持安全的能源供应。用于空间供暖和家庭热水供应的能源的产生和消耗在国家能源使用中占很大比例。随着我们通过提高效率来减少对空间采暖的需求，减少建筑物的采暖量，并满足于较低的内部温度，热水供应的能源消耗将变得更加显著。由于家庭饮用水供应的压力，未来热水消费的重要性也将增加：在英国，水是加热的饮用水（总）水。随着人口的增长，国家水资源和能源的压力将会增加。然而，我们的生活方式和日常活动并不总是朝着正确的方向发展。高效率冷凝式组合锅炉的引进，比旧式锅炉浪费更少，提供了“无限”的热水供应，而不是通过有限体积的水缸来调节消耗。这导致了安装更大的淋浴喷头，这需要更多的水和更长时间的淋浴，因此锅炉效率的节省几乎被增加的消耗所抵消。这样的趋势是无意的，也是反直觉的。未来热水使用的进一步复杂化将是：引入新的产热和储存技术，这些技术可能都是电动的；能源供应的间歇性增加（影响消费者的成本）；家庭小规模发电的潜力；以及新的家电和服务的发展。决定如何在家里提供热水是很重要的。糟糕的决策可能意味着我们对新技术的使用效率低下，因为它没有按照我们需要的方式运行，以满足我们的生活方式。另外，根据新系统的特点，可能需要改变现有的家庭惯例。这也可能产生不良的、意想不到的影响，比如增加水和能源的消耗。该项目旨在了解家庭热水生产的未来，以及我们向新未来的过渡。“温室”项目将考虑新技术、电器、卫生习惯（洗澡和清洁）、能源效率等问题。研究将：*发展未来情景，描述这些可能的未来；*使用数值模拟来了解新技术在未来家庭中的表现；*评估当我们试图调和我们对热水的需求和供应压力时可能变得严重的潜在“压力”。该项目非常及时，并得到了一系列组织和企业的支持：EON（全球能源供应商）；ETi（为英国改造智能供暖系统）；EST（为消费者提供节能建议）；PS可持续性（设计和建造新的低碳住宅）；宾利（全球建模和仿真工具开发商）；BRE（建立能源研究的国家中心）；未来论坛（促进组织的可持续思维）。这项工作应该会产生新的见解、数据和建模工具，帮助社会的许多部门，从中央政府到房屋建筑商和家庭能源设备制造商，再到拥有或管理房屋的公众。

We are compelled to move towards a low carbon future through government directives and legislation necessary to combat climate change. Simultaneously the nation must maintain a secure energy supply. The generation and consumption of energy for space heating and hot water provision in homes is a significant proportion of national energy use. As we reduce the need for space heating through increased efficiency, reduce the volumes that are heated in buildings, and become satisfied with lower internal temperatures, energy consumption for hot water provision will become more significant. The significance of hot water consumption in the future will also increase through pressures on the potable water supply to homes: in the UK water is heated potable (mains) water. The pressure on the nation's water and energy resources will increase as our population grows. Our lifestyles and routines, however, do not always move in the right direction. The introduction of high efficiency condensing combination boilers, which are less wasteful than older boilers, has given access to 'unlimited' hot water supply, rather than consumption moderated by having a finite volume cylinder of water. This has led to the installation of larger shower heads, which use more water and longer showers, and hence the boiler efficiency savings are all but lost by increased consumption.Trends like this are unintended and counter intuitive. Further complicating hot water use in the future, will be: the introduction of new heat generation and storage technologies, which might be all electric; the increasing intermittency of the supply of energy (affecting cost to the consumer); the potential for small-scale generation in the home; as well as the development of new appliances and services. Making decisions about how to provide hot water in the home is important. Poor decisions could mean that we use new technology inefficiently, because it doesn't operate in the way we need to meet our lifestyles. Alternatively, established household routines may need to change, in response to the features of new systems. This too could have undesirable, and unintended effects, such as increasing both water and energy consumption.This project aims to understand what the likely future for hot water production in family homes looks like now, and as we transition to a new future. The HOTHOUSE project will consider such matters as new technology, appliances, hygiene routines (bathing and cleaning), energy efficiency, etc.The research will:* Develop future scenarios that describe these possible futures;* Use numerical modelling to understand how the new technologies will perform in the home of the future; and,* Evaluate the potential 'stresses' that might become acute as we try to reconcile our need for hot water and the pressures on supply. The project is very timely and is supported by a range of organisations and businesses: EON (global energy provider); ETi (renovating smart heating systems for the UK); EST (energy saving advice for the consumer); PS Sustainability (design and build new low carbon homes); Bentley (a global modelling and simulation tools developer); BRE (a national centre for building an energy research); and Forum for the Future (Promotes sustainable thinking in organisations).The work should generate new insights, data and modelling tools that will help many sectors of society from central government, through house builders and home energy equipment manufacturers, to the public that own or manage homes.