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

我们被迫通过应对气候变化所需的政府指令和立法走向低碳未来。同时，国家必须保持安全的能源供应。空间供暖和家庭热水供应的能源生产和消费在全国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供暖的需求，减少建筑物内的供暖量，并对较低的内部温度感到满意，热水供应的能源消耗将变得更加重要。未来热水消费的重要性也将通过家庭饮用水供应的压力而增加：在英国，水是加热的饮用水（主）水。随着我国人口的增长，我国水资源和能源的压力将增加。然而，我们的生活方式和惯例并不总是朝着正确的方向发展。高效冷凝组合锅炉的引入，比旧锅炉浪费更少，已经获得了“无限”的热水供应，而不是通过具有有限体积的水缸来缓和消耗。这导致了更大的淋浴喷头的安装，这需要更多的水和更长的淋浴时间，因此锅炉效率的节省几乎都被消耗的增加所损失。像这样的趋势是无意的和违反直觉的。未来热水使用的进一步复杂化将是：引入新的热生成和存储技术，这些技术可能是全电的;能源供应的日益增加的不稳定性（影响消费者的成本）;家庭小规模发电的潜力;以及新设备和服务的开发。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，因为它的运作方式不符合我们的生活方式。或者，可能需要改变既定的家庭惯例，以适应新系统的特点。这也可能产生不良和意想不到的影响，例如增加水和能源消耗。该项目旨在了解家庭住宅热水生产的未来可能是什么样子的，以及我们过渡到一个新的未来。HOHOUSE项目将考虑诸如新技术、设备、卫生常规等事项（洗澡和清洁），能源效率等。研究将：* 制定未来的情景，描述这些可能的未来;* 使用数值模型来了解新技术将如何在未来的家庭中发挥作用;* 评估潜在的“压力”，当我们试图调和我们对热水的需求和供应压力时，这种压力可能会变得尖锐。该项目非常及时，得到了一系列组织和企业的支持：（全球能源供应商）; ETi（为英国翻新智能供暖系统）; 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）; Bentley（全球建模和模拟工具开发商）; BRE（国家能源研究中心）;未来论坛（促进组织中的可持续思维）。这项工作应该产生新的见解，数据和建模工具，这将有助于中央政府，通过房屋建筑商和家庭能源设备制造商，向拥有或管理房屋的公众提供。

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.