Going Green

A growing number of homeowners are actively seeking to lower their fuel consumption to reduce domestic carbon emissions – or their ‘carbon footprint’.

Calor customers looking for an environmentally and economically sound solution to heating their homes can rest assured that LPG is both energy efficient and clean. But, for those wishing to go even greener, there are now renewable options available, such as solar, which are compatible with LPG.

Rising energy costs and increased anxiety about global warming is driving concerns about the impact we have on our surroundings. With public awareness of green issues at an all time high, many homeowners are looking to make changes by upgrading or modernising their existing heating system to reduce their carbon emissions. To achieve this, most installers would recommend the replacement of an old inefficient boiler with a new SEDBUK A rated model and promote the benefits of fully modulating high efficiency appliances and advanced system controls.

But for many environmentally conscious customers, installing a high efficiency boiler will be just the first step towards a greener future. Modern heating systems rely on fossil fuels which are a finite source of energy – this is why many people are now looking for renewable solutions such as solar power for a sustainable way to heat their homes.

For most households, it will be a long time before renewables alone can offer a complete home energy solution supplying both hot water and space heating to a property. So, Calor is currently working with manufacturers on the development of combined domestic heating systems, which are fuelled by LPG and renewable energy sources together, offering homeowners the best of both worlds.

German manufacturer, Rotex, has developed a fully integrated multifuel system which can incorporate one or more renewable energy sources but is also powered by LPG. This ensures the homeowner always has a failsafe, clean and efficient energy supply to provide heat and hot water.

The Rotex renewables package features a fully modulating, SEDBUK A rated LPG boiler. The system has a very high efficiency thermal store that can accommodate not only a heat exchanger supplied by the boiler, but additional heat exchangers linked to supplementary appliances powered by renewables. The system also has advanced controls that incorporate weather compensation – an external temperature gauge instructs the boiler to supply more or less heat, depending on changes in the weather conditions outside.

In addition to the core system, homeowners can opt to have solar panels fitted to harness energy from the sun’s rays. It has been estimated that at least 25% of households have south facing roofs that would enable them to capitalise on solar thermal energy. By linking the solar panels the thermal store, the need to use LPG can be reduced significantly during the summer months providing both space heating and hot water – a unique feature of the Rotex system. Some homes may even be able to rely entirely on solar thermal energy for all their hot water needs for several months of the year. During the winter months the useable heat that is generated by the sun is greatly reduced but even so, the total fuel bill with the combined system is on average 50% lower than with a traditional, standard efficiency boiler alone.*

In practice, a multi fuel system works on a basic priority system. This is how a typical domestic Rotex installation serves the needs of a domestic household:

• The LPG boiler detects whether there is any solar energy being generated. If so, it takes what is available and calculates how much more is required, based on the external temperature and the demands being made upon it by the household.
• If more energy is required it looks to its next priority system. Again it takes what is available and then if any more energy is required the LPG boiler ignites to give the exact extra power required.
• If none of the renewable systems are running, the boiler fires to the required amount to deliver hot water and space heating to the whole house, drawing upon the energy already stored in the thermal store.
• If the solar panels are providing sufficient energy on their own, the boiler does not fire.

Installers can bring together all the separate elements of the Rotex system to design a combined multi-fuel home heating package to meet an individual customer’s requirements. However, the Rotex system has been developed as a fully integrated package, which makes installation a much simpler task.

Mark Wheeler of Rotex says: “No other system comes close to beating this intelligent combined home heating solution, at any price. We’re so keen to work with LPG installers that we’ve developed an LPG Rotex System Solaris which is available exclusively to Calor installers.”

For further information on Rotex, or if you would like to attend a special Rotex/Calor open day in September/October please call Mark on 0207 247 6133 or email on enquiries@rotex.co.uk