News: Profile
Preparing for energy labelling
Collin Timmins, associate director at BEAMA, reminds installers how they will
be affected by new ErP regulations coming into force from September
t is important that installers are
aware of the new regulatory
requirements that will apply
to them when the EU energy
labelling requirements come into
force in September this year. This is likely to
mean that some changes to working practices
are needed, though ultimately these should
lead to householders relying even more on
installers as the trusted source of advice on
how to lower their energy bills.
From the 26 September 2015 all space
heaters up to 70kW will come with an energy
label showing the energy rating of the product
on a scale from A++ down to G. This label
will allow customers to directly compare
the efficiency of gas and oil boilers against
an equivalent heat pump, and it will be the
responsibility of whoever sells the appliance
to the end customer to inform them of this
efficiency rating. In many cases this will be the
installer, who will also have the responsibility
to provide the customer with a further label
indicating what the system efficiency will be
when this space heater is combined with a
temperature control or solar heating.
I
From the 26 September
2015 all space heaters up
to 70kW will come with an
energy label showing the
energy rating of the product
The introduction of this regulation is all
part of the European Commission’s intention
to improve the design of appliances and
remove the least efficient from the market (the
10 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk
‘ecodesign’ directive), while at the same time
allowing customers to make informed choices
about what will be the most environmentally
friendly option (the energy labelling directive.)
Regulations covering space and water heaters
are just the most recent to be introduced,
reflecting the complexity of negotiations
required with industry, Member States and
other stakeholders to bring these into being.
One unique aspect of the regulation for
space heaters is that it includes a ‘package’
label that applies when the product is
combined with other system components
such as solar thermal or temperature controls.
The package label must be produced even
if the products are simply combined by an
installer as part of an installation, and it can
therefore become the installer’s responsibility
to calculate the system efficiency and to
produce a bespoke label for the installation.
The process of producing a package
label is quite straightforward for temperature
controls as these will include information
to show which class of control they belong
to (from class 1 to class 8) as well as the
percentage improvement that this class
of control will make to the space heater
efficiency (anything from 1 to 5 percent).
Simply adding the efficiency effect of the
control to the stated efficiency of the space
heater will give you the efficiency of the
package. There will even be a worksheet
with the boiler documentation to guide you
through this simple calculation. When solar
heating is combined with a space heater
then the calculations are a bit more complex
but again the calculations required will be
detailed in the technical documentation that
comes with the boiler.
A package label can be generated by
entering the final details of the calculated
package efficiency into a form on the
European Commission website. This will
automatically produce a label that you can
then print off and give to the customer. It
Efficiency drive: From September 26, installers
must ensure that space heaters up to 70kW are
provided with an energy rating label
is almost certain that other solutions will
start to filter onto the market such as mobile
phone apps to make this process even more
convenient and allowing it to be done easily
when on-site.
BEAMA, together with HHIC, have also
produced a website to guide all members of
the supply chain through the requirements
of the energy labelling regulations and to
hopefully address any confusion. This website
is www.energylabelling.org.uk.