WHY MEASURE HEAT LOSS?

The largest single use of energy in our houses is heating the space. Reducing heat loss drives down bills, drives down carbon footprint and improves comfort. It’s a win-win for people, profit and planet.

Sources of heatloss in homes

The housing industry has made significant progress in developing the tools and methods to improve fabric so that heat loss is reduced. This, combined with accurate calculation of heat loss to see which homes need it most, will allow us to vastly improve homes across the country.

The Heat Transfer Coefficient, or HTC, is the most reliable measurement of heat loss from the fabric of the whole home, showing the amount of energy needed to maintain a building at a given temperature. Existing methods for calculating the HTC of a home in use have shortcomings – it’s not possible to use them for regular monitoring. The NIGHTCAD solution solves this and gives the housing industry a radical new tool to manage their buildings.

A solution for HTC

Although HTC is currently the most reliable measurement of heat loss from a building’s fabric, existing methods for measuring heat-loss and calculating HTC have well known drawbacks that mean it’s not possible to use them for widespread monitoring. A full co-heating test requires a home to be empty for several weeks, needs specialist support, and cannot be applied to multiple houses at the same time.

Thermal imaging surveys are excellent for highlighting trouble-spots in individual buildings, but only show the situation at one point in time and do not show how heat loss compares between buildings. 

The NIGHTCAD solution is designed to solve this and gives the housing industry a radical new tool to manage their buildings.

A direct measurement of HTC means that landlords, homeowners and third parties can understand if housing is performing. It allows:

  • prioritised interventions across a large population of homes
  • measurement of the effectiveness of improvements 
  • targets and tools for suppliers to demonstrate quality
  • assurance to regulators that homes are comfortable and energy efficient

Across the industry, the ability to measure the real performance of a building as constructed would have huge implications.

WHAT IS NIGHTCAD?

NIGHTCAD is a simple tool that landlords or homeowners can install in a home to generate a value for the total heat loss in that space. Using meter data and temperature data measured in the home, it works with cloud-based sophisticated models of building performance to calculate HTC in a few weeks. This can be done even if the home is occupied, with minimal disturbance to householders. 

The measurement takes into account local weather conditions and seasonal effects. Multiple homes can be assessed at the same time and the results compared to understand which homes would benefit most from improvements.

Prototypes of NIGHTCAD are currently in testing with SHPs, supported by Government funding from BEIS.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Meter data

The system uses smart gas and electricity data. For homes without smart meters, additional monitors can be used to record energy data.

Temperature data

This data is collected alongside local weather data and internal temperatures, taken from a number of points around the home.

HTC value

The information is fed into a web-based calculation engine, which provides a single HTC value for the whole building.

WHO CAN USE NIGHTCAD?

  • For landlords and asset managers, NIGHTCAD provides a tool to compare the performance of your homes – helping you to prioritise improvements and checking that such improvements have been successful.
  • For housebuilders and developers, the system offers an opportunity to demonstrate quality to purchasers, regulators and funders. A single, simple test before or even after handover provides assurance.
  • Regulators and policy makers will be able (with consent) to collect data on the impact of policy on building stock, based on real performance data.
  • Energy companies can use the data, with consent, to understand the nature of space heating demand and how improvements to building stock may change it.

CONTACT US

NIGHTCAD’s solution is currently being developed and tested by a consortium of experts in building performance and technology. Initial in-house trials with SHPs have shown results comparable with co-heating tests. The NIGHTCAD consortium are now exploring ways to tailor the solution to the needs of different customers. We expect to start pilot testing performance with a wider variety of homes at the beginning of 2021.

If you would like to know more about NIGHTCAD we want to hear from you! Simply fill in the form below and we will be in touch.