Making heating appliances more sustainable in residential buildings

If we want to make society climate neutral, we will have to thoroughly renovate several buildings.

In doing so, we need to switch to sustainable heating. We are investigating how to implement this in practice for buildings through several studies.

Adapt, apply and expand existing Flemish tools around central heating appliances

Within this study we want to examine how we can adapt, apply and possibly expand existing Flemish instruments around central heating appliances. In doing so, we want to accelerate the sustainability of heating in buildings. We do this on behalf of VEKA, together with Thermiek.

We focus on four crucial actions  to increase the sustainability of current central heating appliances:

• A correct efficiency determination of the operation of the current heating appliance and, in case of expansion, the entire installation, and the possibilities of standardisation and phasing out of installations based on energy efficiency or other criteria such as year of construction, type of appliance, etc. These provide a clear view of the possibilities for further energy savings for the current appliance (see Action 2) or the possible improvements when replacing the appliance (see Actions 3 and 4).
• Improving the operation of the entire heating system through energy-efficient adjustment and possible other interventions.
• An accurate sizing of a new energy-efficient heating system when replacing the current one, taking into account the possibilities of renovating the building.
• Further support to owners of central heating systems in the selection of a new sustainable heating system when replacing the current heating system.

Study of replacing fossil combustion appliances with heat pump in a residential building

On behalf of ODE, we are investigating with KU Leuven whether a house currently heated with fuel oil can be switched to a heat pump.

We map out the work, costs and benefits associated with that replacement for different types of heat pumps. This study resulted in a guideline. We now have worked out a reference case for a homeowner facing this challenge, calculated on an annual basis with a short time step and with realistic usage behavior and regulation.

In addition, this case can provide numerical data for an impact analysis of the affected housing stock.