Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Renewable ... - EGEC

3Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Renewable Heating & CoolingRHC applications and priorities for residential buildings3.6 Research and Innovation prioritieswith generic impact on RHC applicationsin the residential sectorSystems for the domestic sector must operate minimising human intervention.If intervention is required, it must be simple and easy. The main user requirementsare comfort, reliability and low cost. The ideal building application for the domestic sectortherefore must be small (but scalable), automatic, reliable and affordable.Below are some items of relevance to all types of residential heating and cooling from RESthat will help to improve system efficiency and ease of installation. These issues are relatedto the system level rather than to the single component level. While components often aretested and certified with specific procedures (e.g. the solar key mark for solar thermal collectors),such certification practices and schemes do not exist for overallheating and cooling systems.The observed performance of installed systems in Europe is often below the expected level,and well below the theoretical performance. This tendency increases for complex systemsand for hybrid systems. In order to improve the efficiency and longevity of installed systems,it is a priority to develop new industry standards and testing procedures.RHC.1ObjectiveState-of-the-artTargetsType of activityDeveloping standards for the overall system design and forhydraulic and electrical interconnections of different building componentsThe main objective is to elaborate and validate new standards for the design and interconnectionof RHC systems. In particular, these activities aim at:• ensuring cost-efficiency and interoperability• enabling low-cost, easy and fail-safe installation (plug and function or plug and flow)The expected outcome is a set of harmonised EU standards for the connection of renewableheating and cooling equipment and systems. This will unlock new market opportunities formanufacturers and system developers.A lot of components in consumer-type RHC (i.e. in the residential sector) are still designedto national standards, company rules, or just individually hand-made. Also, different typesof equipment can belong to different clusters of standardisation, preventing easy combinatione.g. in hybrid systems. The interchange of components from different countries or manufacturersis thus limited, and designers as well as installers are confronted with challenges ininterconnection.Reduce the first cost of components and installation. Improve system functionality,reliability and longevity as well as inter-component compatibility.25% Research / 50% Development / 25% DemonstrationRHC.2ObjectiveElaborating standards, tests, and benchmarks for system efficiencyIn the residential sector, the need for standards in design and implementation is greatest.End users here do not have sufficient knowledge to judge design and implementation quality.Standards and standardised procedures need to be developed to ensure renewable heating andcooling systems are satisfactory in all aspects. Ideally, such procedures should be implementedin accordance with technical standards and for the certification of overall systems. Learning fromdriving cycle tests in the car industry, RHC system should also test by cycle, rather thanby steady-state tests.Benchmarks have to be created to give end users and designers a judging system by which theycan value its performance.Continuous monitoring campaigns are required to establish such benchmarks, but also toallow for feed-back on the success of R&D activities.State-of-the-artTargetsConsumers cannot effectively judge the appropriateness of design and the quality of installation.Comparing efficiency between different systems is difficult. There are no simple benchmarks tosupport such judgement. Existing tests reflect component performance under mostly steadystateconditions but not overall systems performance.In collaboration with industry, define one or more reference tests to measure real lifeperformance of RHC systems. Harmonise international test procedures to ensure transparencyfor comparison of RHC options.Produce a labelling scheme enabling end-users and manufacturers to evaluate andcompare system performance, and by that create a pressure towards and market formore efficient systems.Type of activity25% Research / 50% Development / 25% Demonstration40