OLD HOUSE TO ECO HOUSE

From heat pumps and underfloor heating to LED lighting, Alan Tierney discusses the best options for saving energy in an older property

Alan is currently renovating his own house; a grade II* listed cottage in Devon

The ground source heat pump Alan has installed provides around 3.7 times as much heat as the electricity it uses

In the first two parts of this series, I described the measures you can take to upgrade the fabric of an old house to improve its thermal performance. It’s essential to address this part of a project before considering what tech you can install to maximise energy efficiency. This article looks at the final step in the process – using my own recent renovation as an example, and with a major focus on heating options.

Heat source

The largest use of energy in any house is the heating, which is why in previous articles we have already worked so hard on increasing thermal performance. But your choice of heat source will also make a significant impact.

For many houses, a heat pump will be the most efficient option because it doesn’t generate heat but extracts it from the environment, enabling it to provide more energy than it uses. All other sources use energy to create heat with inevitable efficiency losses, using more power than the warmth they provide.

The manifold for the heat pump ground loop

The extra warmth from passive solar gain means Alan’s thermostat often reaches higher than the set temperature