How is water heated?
The second biggest consumer of energy in a home after space heating, is generating hot water. Because at Hockerton there is no need for space heating, our hot water has become our biggest user of energy. It was therefore important to find ways of minimising this. Initially all homes were fitted with ‘Air to Water’ heat pumps to provide hot water. This system utilizes excess heat created in the south facing conservatories. The hotter the air, the more efficient the system becomes – however they are capable of providing hot water energy efficiently at relatively low temperatures. There is a high capacity for storing such gains during hot periods or via excess wind energy, due to the very large hot water tanks, which have a capacity of 1,500 litres. Overall the combined system of heat pumps and super-insulated thermal water stores reduced the energy requirements for hot water by about 75%. However more recently, with the failure of some of the heat pumps (and no replacement/repair availab
