FEI-FEVI 2010 EEC Report filed March 31, 2011 - FortisBC

FORTISBC ENERGY INC. AND FORTISBC ENERGY (VANCOUVER ISLAND) INC.
2010 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION ANNUAL REPORT
3.4.3.2 (0.80 EF) Hot Water Heater - PILOT PROGRAM
(0.80 EF) Hot Water Heater – PILOT PROGRAM
Market Retrofit and New Construction
Audience FEI/FEVI Residential Homes
Duration To be determined
Incentive To be determined
Partner Canadian Gas Association (“CGA”)
Program Description
Technology
Description
Goals
Background
The purpose of the program is to obtain installation, performance, and customer
acceptance information regarding residential Domestic Hot Water (“DHW”)
technologies with an Efficiency Factor (“EF”) of 0.80 or better. The increasing
importance of the water heating load has led the Ministry of Energy and Mines,
in conjunction with Natural Resources Canada (“NRCan”) to establish a plan to
significantly raise minimum efficiency levels over the next 10 years. The
Companies support these regulations since water heating is an important end
use as it provides a “base load” throughout the year and helps keep the annual
cost of natural gas purchases lower than it would be without the load. Water
heating provides a relatively constant load over the year and hence provides
revenue while not contributing incrementally to peak load. Peak gas is more
expensive to acquire and as such, water heating load reduces the annual cost
of natural gas to customers.
The main (0.80 EF) systems identified to date are:
• On-demand or tankless water heaters;
• Condensing tank water heaters;
• Hybrid systems (on-demand heater mounted on or beside a small buffer
tank); and
• Combination systems (DHW and air/heat exchanger in one unit; may
also include additional HRV or other functions).
• Replace existing low efficiency hot water tanks with (0.80 EF) hot water
tanks to capture energy savings associated with reducing the overall
consumption of natural gas.
• Coordinate measurement solutions with stakeholders and/or third party
companies to monitor systems performance and achieved energy
savings. This data will be used to confirm savings claims and guide the
development of future programs.
• Engage the trades community and manufacturers by supporting (0.80
EF) hot water tank technologies.
• Educate residential customers about the advantages of (0.80 EF) hot
water tank technologies and provide incentives for their adoption when
necessary.
• Identify market barriers for adoption such as poor system performance,
low product availability, lack of skilled contractors, low participant
uptake numbers, and lack of awareness.
SECTION 3: RESIDENTIAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAM AREA Page 39