Cutting-edge technology on display at ISH 2017

While Amazon’s Echo Alexa personal assistant (below) might not be able to help you remember which room at ISH you left your copy of Passive House Plus in, it can — as demonstrated at the Bosch stand — help you to regulate the temperature of the rooms inside your house.

The ‘internet of things’ is very much in vogue at the moment, and manufacturers at ISH all offered their own tweak on an internet-enabled app or wireless controlled device to operate heating, cooling and ventilation systems. This integration of devices will only continue to be expanded as solar PV and battery systems are further incorporated into the smart homes of the rapidly approaching future.

Clever graphics and diagrams will show how energy is produced, stored and used to maximise the efficiency of these devices — and to reduce both carbon emissioms and costs. 

Something else very evident at ISH was that all devices had the requisite E-RP (energy related product) labels (See below).

Some manufacturers also demonstrated software to integrate their systems with other manufacturers' products, and to verify the combined system efficiency. In future, this type of software will enable energy consultants and BER/SAP assessors to collate information and improve on the otherwise default values they must use if they don’t have proof of a system’s efficiency.

There was also a noticeable increase at ISH in the number of energy efficient technologies marked as passive house components. Interestingly, the notification sticker/label on the equipment is getting smaller — possibly due to wider acceptance and knowledge of the passive house standard?

Also interestingly, and perhaps worryingly, not a single reference was made to the nZEB standard — which is odd considering how close we are getting to its implementation across the EU.

Irish manufacturer Grant Engineering's new heating control system (above), which is set to launch later this year. 

Something else very evident this year was that every mainstream manufacturer now has a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) system. Even more noticeable was the proliferation of decentralised mechanical ventilation systems, from both ventilation manufacturers, and other technology manufacturers who have added these products to their lineup. Quite how these are treated by DEAP and SAP going into the future remains to be seen.

What was also evident is the challenge traditional heating system manufacturers are now facing due to the proliferation of heat pumps and other renewable systems. At ISH, oil boilers were primarily promoted for renovation, due to the growing challenge of integrating them into new buildings while still meeting the requirement for renewable energy in most national building regulations. 

For a detailed round-up from ISH, see this report from Messe Frankfurt. Mark Shirley is the founder of leading energy and airtightness consultants 2eva.ie.

Sample of ER-P label (above) on a new Daikin combined air-source-heat pump with integrated gas boiler, which can also be connected to solar thermal, and which will launched in the Irish & UK marketplace in mid-summer 2017.