Authors:
Joana Fernandes / ADENE - Agency for Energy
Diego Menegon / Eurac Research, Institute for Renewable Energy
Marco Calderoni/ R2M Solution s.r.l. / Polo Tecnologico di Pavia
Fabio Maria Aprá / R2M Solution Spain S.L.
Heating is responsible for 80% of the energy demand from European households. This energy demand is currently supplied through heating technologies that run on fossil fuels and are rather old, generally more than 15 years old, and inefficient, meaning that the seasonal efficiency (calculated according to Commission Regulation (EU) No 811/2013 [1] and Commission Communication 2014/C 207/02 [2]) is lower than 82% while the present market offers many better performing options. Despite this scenario, the replacement rate of old heating appliances is only at 4% per year [3], far lower than what it needs to be to comply with European climate commitments.
To address this issue, the HARP project (Heating Appliances Retrofit Planning) was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 847049. HARP endeavoured to study how the replacement rate could be improved through the energy labelling of existing heating appliances, aiming to communicate with the consumer using a well-known and recognised decision support tool.
The work started with the evaluation of the EU stock of existing heating appliances, the analysis of already existing mandatory and voluntary energy labelling schemes for existing heating appliances and proceeded with the development of methodologies that quantify and classify the energy performance of existing heating appliances in accordance with the EU heating regulations in force for the energy labelling of new heating solutions. Upon the development and implementation of national campaigns that used the developed energy labelling scheme to communicate with consumers and professionals, scenarios were derived so that potential policy options for labelling existing heating systems can continue to be used at the national level after the project ended.
To support consumers in the decision-making process of replacing their old and inefficient heating appliances, an energy labelling methodology for existing heating appliances was developed. The methodology considers a simplified version for the final consumer and a detailed version for the professional. In the simplified version, only a few simple inputs are required from the consumer while in the more detailed version additional inputs are required from the professional.
As an output, the energy labelling methodology calculates the ‘seasonal efficiency’ of space heating appliances, the ‘water heater efficiency’ of water heaters, and the corresponding energy class. The user can compare the energy class of the installed appliance with one of the new products available on the market, and estimate the energy, economic and environmental benefits of the potential replacement.
The energy labelling of existing heating appliances and water heaters was drawn from the analysis of EU Regulations 811/2013 [1] and 812/2013 [4], to assure the development of a calculation methodology would be compliant with the EU regulations, allowing for the direct comparison between old and new heating solutions.
The definition of the calculation method followed different EU regulations and EN standards as follows: Regulations EU 811/2013 with Communication 2014/C 207/02 [1,2], Regulations EU 812/2013 [4], and EN standards EN 15502-1 c.9.5 [5], EN14825 [6], EN 13203 [7], EN 50440 [8], EN 60379 [9] and EN16147 [10].
A dataset of around 5000 models was assembled from: i) consulting the database of boilers used to label boilers in Germany [11], ii) collecting data from project partners as the national industry associations Assotermica and Uniclima and the national energy agency Adene, and iii) from a market analysis.
To define default values European and national standards were used, such as: EN 15316-4-1 [12], EN 15316-4-2 [13], EN 15316-5 [14], EN12831-3 [15], UNI EN 15378-3 [16], UNI 10389:2019 [17] and UNI 9182 [18]. Since the use of those standards requires a technical knowledge, the definition of default values for the simplified version was validated to reduce the number and the complexity of inputs required by the calculation models included in the energy labelling methodology.
Figure 1. Schematic of the energy labelling methodologies for installed heating appliances
The main objective of the methodology is to label old existing appliances, meaning more than 15 years old. The performance degradation of these appliances is recognised due to the appliance’s natural ageing. This effect was considered in the proposed methodology by introducing an ageing coefficient in the energy efficiency calculation.
The performance degradation varies for different heating technologies and is influenced by the intensity of maintenance. This second aspect is particularly important since in some countries maintenance procedures are not mandatory by law and the user is not aware of this effect. Therefore, the methodology foresees two cases: ‘normal’ maintenance according to the prescribed programme, and ‘bad’ maintenance in cases where it is poor or not performed.
The validation step of the methodology definition was to minimise the deviation between the simplified and the detailed calculations. At this stage, the outputs of the energy labelling methodologies were evaluated: seasonal efficiency for space heating appliances and water heater efficiency for water heaters. Additionally, laboratory tests were also performed on three space heating boilers and two gas water heaters measuring the capacity and the seasonal efficiency of heating appliances and water heater efficiency. The result was an average deviation between the simplified and the detailed version of around 3% and in the worst cases still in a ±10% interval [19,20].
The developed methodology was validated and promoted by a well-recognised EU-wide organisation ( European Heating Industry - EHI), providing it with a successful endorsement for its application in national maintenance procedures and subsidies programmes (e.g. as a performance-based requirement to obtain retrofitting incentives).
The legislative framework concerning the energy labelling of existing heating appliances varies across the countries participating in the HARP project (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal). Currently only Germany has a mandatory labelling scheme for existing space heating appliances, managed by BAFA, the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control. It considers the regular inspection of chimneys and relies on chimney sweepers to calculate and issue the energy label, providing information to the consumer on possible alternative solutions when replacing the currently installed system.
Other voluntary schemes are in place in France, Mon Étiquette Chaudière, developed and promoted by Coénove and Energies et Avenir, exclusively addressing space heating and focusing on heating professionals to issue the label during maintenance procedures. This is the same approach used in Italy where the system Etichetta Energetica promoted by Assotermica is aimed at heating professionals who consider this approach an improvement to the current legislation.
In Spain, Fegeca (the national association of heating appliance manufacturers) promotes a simple labelling system, considering only the boiler age and technology in the calculation process. This system is intended to be issued by the technical service of the heating system manufacturers during the maintenance activities; however, it is not widespread across the country and is not known by most installers.
In all the HARP countries, as in most EU countries, incentives are in place for the replacement of existing heating appliances, and this is the most effective tool to promote the adoption of more energy efficient systems. However, most of the available incentives do not use the energy labelling of existing heating appliances. This is one of the ways the energy label of existing heating appliances could be valued and support the energy transition of the heating sector.
In the HARP perspective five policy scenarios could be drawn for the integration of the energy label of existing heating appliances in EU and national public policies:
The labelling schemes currently in force for existing heating appliances are not harmonised with the EU regulations applicable to new heating solutions. The methodologies developed are harmonised and as such could be adopted by the existing systems, mandatory and voluntary, to make these systems compatible with the EU regulations, considering both space, water, and combi heating, following the same energy scale and as such allowing the consumer for a direct comparison between the existing heating appliance and the new solutions available on the market.
Heating is one of the criteria considered in most EU systems regarding the evaluation and emission of buildings energy performance certificates. The methodology to evaluate the performance of the current heating system is defined at the national level and as such there is the potential to harmonise the energy labelling framework with the building energy certification scheme. This would mean adopting the labelling methodology for existing heating appliances in the national buildings certification scheme, allowing to link the information on the building certificate with the products energy label, again providing the building owner with comparable information between the performance of the existing system and new solutions on the market. This would also allow professionals to benefit from the recently launched EPREL – European product database, where all the products technical data (for energy label compliance) is available, allowing for a more complete characterisation of the heating appliance.
One stop shops and renovation passports are two of the tools endorsed in the EPBD to support the consumer in the identification and adoption of energy efficiency measures in their house. The labelling methodology and existing heating appliances classification could also be adopted in this context, fostering the consumer to simulate the energy class of their heating system and raise their awareness of the renovation potential.
Maintenance procedures are compulsory in most EU countries. It is a unique opportunity for the professional to do a thorough assessment of heating appliances and report to the consumer. This assessment can be extended beyond security and operation, by also evaluating the energy performance of the existing heating appliance and including this information in the report passed on to the consumer, raising their awareness on the (in)efficiency of the system and on potential replacement solutions.
Currently, most energy efficiency incentives do not quantify or prioritise the most energy saving interventions. Adopting the energy label of existing heating appliances in energy incentives, either for eligibility (only support the replacement of heating appliances with an energy label C or below), prioritisation (rank the interventions in terms of the energy efficiency of the current and the new system and prioritise the ones that guarantee the highest energy savings) or incentive surplus (provide extra incentive to the replacement of appliances labelled as C or below, e.g. 10% more incentive), would result in boosting the replacement of the oldest and most inefficient heating appliances, targeting those most in need and achieving the highest revenues in terms of energy savings per public money invested.
Based on the framework described above, HARP investigated how the methodologies developed could be part of nation-wide objectives in each country, and potentially be adopted at the governmental level. The informed feedback coming from all the partners responsible for the national campaigns, independently from the national system boundaries, is that the potential of existing heating appliances labelling would be significantly extended if the label became part of public policies.
The main results achieved by the adoption of the HARP methodology at a national level are as follows:
The HARP partners are confident that the labelling methodology for existing heating appliances developed during the project will be used for many years in the future and that it will, if supported by public authorities and policy makers, be a game changer tool for the decarbonisation of the heating sector in the European Union.
The goal of the energy label for existing heating appliances is to communicate in a transparent and easy way with the consumer, taking advantage of a decision support tool appropriated by the users since the 90’s.
To ensure a fully harmonised system, the labelling methodologies developed took into consideration the EU labelling regulations for new heating solutions in force since 2015 and compulsory and voluntary schemes already implemented in some EU countries. The results are fully harmonised methodologies, that consider the labelling of space, water and combi heaters and introduce a performance degradation factor calculated with the support of the heating industry, using a database of more than 5,000 heating appliances and laboratory testing. The use of these methodologies has been tested in five EU countries and the experiences have made possible the identification of five potential policy integration scenarios for the adoption of these labelling methodologies at the national level, guaranteeing that this approach can effectively support the energy transition of the heating sector towards more efficient and renewable heating solutions.
The national endorsements of HARP’s methodology and the handover of the tool to national partners, clears the path to potential replication in other EU countries to maximise the wider impact of the labelling of existing heating appliances.
Labelling of old heating appliances; energy label; consumer awareness; policy integration.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 847049, project HARP - Heating Appliances Retrofit Planning. The sole responsibility for this content lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither CINEA nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
[1] EC, Commission delegated regulation (EU) No 811/2013 of 18 February 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the energy labelling of space heaters, combination heaters, packages of space heater, temperature control and solar device and packages of combination heater, temperature control and solar device, (2013).
[2] EC, Commission delegated Regulation (EU) No 812/2013 of 18 February 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the energy labelling of water heaters, hot water storage tanks and packages of water heater and solar device, (2013).
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