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Heating and controls use resulting from shared-cost charges in communal network social housing

Heating and controls use resulting from shared-cost charges in communal network social housing
Heating and controls use resulting from shared-cost charges in communal network social housing
In dwellings connected to district or communal heating schemes occupants are commonly charged based on actual heat consumption, providing a direct link between heat consumption and weekly heating cost. This article investigates how the use of fixed-rate, shared-cost charging without dwelling-level metering affects the heating and controls use in communal network social housing. Living room and radiator temperatures in 50 flats were monitored over a winter heating season and occupants surveyed at monitoring install and removal. The primary stated and observed heating strategy was to leave the heating always on and control through the radiator thermostatic radiator valves. Of people who used timer control, total heating hours reduced with increased frequency of manual intervention. Mean indoor temperatures up to 27.7°C were observed, implying many residents are adapted to higher indoor temperatures. Thus, the current model encourages wasteful behaviour and education on use of controls is key to transitioning residents to charging for actual heat use.

Practical application: this article intends to inform the landlords of communal network social housing schemes on the impacts that shared-cost recovery methods of charging for heat has on heating and controls use. This charging method can impact the behaviour of the network occupants resulting in higher heat consumption, overall higher heating costs and subsequently higher carbon emissions from the site if occupants are not adequately trained in how to operate their heating effectively. Where similar charging methods are implemented, the article hopes to inform operators of the potential vulnerabilities of the network occupants to changes in the method of charging for heat.
Social housing, adapted thermal comfort, communal heating, heat networks, heating behaviour, heating controls
0143-6244
315-331
Paine, Samuel, William Charles
4d3424bf-e8ba-4453-abe6-01fab297cd33
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Bahaj, Abubakr
a64074cc-2b6e-43df-adac-a8437e7f1b37
Andrew, Waggott
17b4f6a1-2164-4cca-a810-9531fc1117e7
Paine, Samuel, William Charles
4d3424bf-e8ba-4453-abe6-01fab297cd33
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Bahaj, Abubakr
a64074cc-2b6e-43df-adac-a8437e7f1b37
Andrew, Waggott
17b4f6a1-2164-4cca-a810-9531fc1117e7

Paine, Samuel, William Charles, James, Patrick, Bahaj, Abubakr and Andrew, Waggott (2020) Heating and controls use resulting from shared-cost charges in communal network social housing. Building Services Engineering Research and Technology, 41 (3), 315-331. (doi:10.1177/0143624420911170).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In dwellings connected to district or communal heating schemes occupants are commonly charged based on actual heat consumption, providing a direct link between heat consumption and weekly heating cost. This article investigates how the use of fixed-rate, shared-cost charging without dwelling-level metering affects the heating and controls use in communal network social housing. Living room and radiator temperatures in 50 flats were monitored over a winter heating season and occupants surveyed at monitoring install and removal. The primary stated and observed heating strategy was to leave the heating always on and control through the radiator thermostatic radiator valves. Of people who used timer control, total heating hours reduced with increased frequency of manual intervention. Mean indoor temperatures up to 27.7°C were observed, implying many residents are adapted to higher indoor temperatures. Thus, the current model encourages wasteful behaviour and education on use of controls is key to transitioning residents to charging for actual heat use.

Practical application: this article intends to inform the landlords of communal network social housing schemes on the impacts that shared-cost recovery methods of charging for heat has on heating and controls use. This charging method can impact the behaviour of the network occupants resulting in higher heat consumption, overall higher heating costs and subsequently higher carbon emissions from the site if occupants are not adequately trained in how to operate their heating effectively. Where similar charging methods are implemented, the article hopes to inform operators of the potential vulnerabilities of the network occupants to changes in the method of charging for heat.

Text
Paine_BSERT_cost_sharing_heat_networks_MAY_2020 - Accepted Manuscript
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e-pub ahead of print date: 8 March 2020
Published date: 1 May 2020
Additional Information: Funding Information: This work is part of the activities of the Energy and Climate Change Division and the Sustainable Energy Research Group at the University of Southampton (www.energy.soton.ac.uk). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.
Keywords: Social housing, adapted thermal comfort, communal heating, heat networks, heating behaviour, heating controls

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 441046
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441046
ISSN: 0143-6244
PURE UUID: 6b3c4291-f20b-46d9-8ccb-fea8e4b187f1
ORCID for Samuel, William Charles Paine: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6300-8275
ORCID for Patrick James: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2694-7054
ORCID for Abubakr Bahaj: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0043-6045

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Date deposited: 28 May 2020 16:57
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:39

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Contributors

Author: Samuel, William Charles Paine ORCID iD
Author: Patrick James ORCID iD
Author: Abubakr Bahaj ORCID iD
Author: Waggott Andrew

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