A new catch-word enters the conversation when it comes to mentioning heating and energy solutions in our homes. The term is electro-tech, and although it is a common term, it is adopted into our everyday language when discussing modern homes.
First adopted by economists and energy experts to describe the global shift away from fossil fuels and towards digitally driven, highly efficient, electricity-based technologies, it has evolved to consider renewable energy sources and the electrification of our homes.
But what does that really mean for homeowners? In this article I will break down the main categories of home-based electro-tech, how to increase performance and efficiency, and if you A structure of self-creationRenovating or extending your home.
What are the main domestic electro-tech categories?
Although electro-tech has evolved to mean almost any electrical-based technology that we use in our homes, there are four main categories that represent the move toward a distinct home style:
- Renewable Energy Supply: Use and Installation of Green Energy Suppliers Solar panels To generate your own energy on site
- heating source: use of Heat pump Instead of gas and oil boilers
- Smart homes: Managing energy consumption through smart meters, battery storage and better controls, viz Smart heating systems
- Electric vehicles: Switch from fossil fuels to electricity by using electric vehicles instead of diesel and petrol models
Although each of these serve different purposes – and, as I’ll come to explain, can function independently – over-arching single power supplies and management is where the potential value lies. But, if you don’t properly design and specify your electro-tech home, the dangers can become apparent.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Electro-Tech Home
Apart from the ecological benefits of reducing the need for fossil fuels, the main advantage of electro-tech is that everything is connected to your home distribution board. The fact that it runs on a single energy source makes it potentially easier to control and operate more effectively.
Instead of connecting multiple power supplies such as gas, electric and oil or LPG, a home power supply will deliver energy and power to all parts of the home through a single output source.
Even if you have Solar PV After the panels they will also be wired with a Solar panel inverter which converts direct current (DC) to 230v alternating current (AC), which is then also connected to the distribution board.
A Solar battery The store will also be connected to the distribution board via an inverter – often the same one that operates the PV generation. Yours EV charger The main supply and distribution board will also be connected, although this can be done in a more complicated manner.
In essence, you can picture the distribution board as the central hub of a bicycle wheel where all the spokes – electro-tech – connect back to it.
Requirements for an efficient electro-tech set-up
On the flip side of the coin, however, the potential danger of electro-tech is that a singular approach can streamline everything, making sure your home can handle it.
Most homes have a 230v single phase electricity supply and have a limited load capacity, often 80Amps or 100Amps. If it’s lower than that, you should talk to your supplier or distribution network operator (DNO) to see if you can get a bigger supply, because 100 Amps is as low as you really want to go.
In real terms, this means you can only run a total load of 18kW or 23kW at any one time. Any more than this and the house will be overloaded and the supply will stop.
To put load vs supply into perspective, you need to look at what the maximum possible load can be in a home to help you understand what is required.
For example, when only your Kitchen AppliancesAn average oven uses 3kW, each plate on the hob is about 1.5kW, a washing machine (when heating) uses 3kW, a tumble dryer 1-5kW, a kettle 2kW and a microwave between 1kW.
N Air source heat pump will use between 2-5kW, an electric immersion in a hot water cylinder also draws 3kW, and an electric shower between 6kW and 8kW. The EV charger draws 7kW.
Then, along with the big load appliances, you’ll also have lots of background loads like lights, computers, games, TVs, chargers, etc. that will add up too.
If you use a combination of these devices, plus the background load and it all adds up to more than the load capacity (18kW to 23kW,), the risk is that the home’s electricity supply can become overloaded and shut down.
The importance of smart home tech
Although none of the devices and technologies actually need other systems to work, it often makes sense to control them to work together.
As well as streamlining the amount of work a homeowner has to do to make each part work, adopt a smart home The approach can also help prevent the biggest risk – overloading your power supply.
Many management software systems will manage the maximum load and prioritize what is most important. So for example, if it is important that the car is charged, the software will turn off other, lower priority devices, or turn off the output of the car charger for five minutes while the kettle is boiling. You decide the priority; Software manages it.
However, there is still work to be done in this area, and most manufacturers create their own controls, often with their own logic and algorithms. So it can be difficult to find different technologies that can ‘talk’ to each other if they are made by different manufacturers.
It can often be sufficient to have simple controls that simply turn devices on or off, but in cases where the device can modulate, you need controls to be able to turn the device up and down instead of just turning it on or off.
As a result of the move towards electro-tech homes, it is becoming more common although many manufacturers now have agreements with software makers that allow various technologies to be fully managed by third party controls.
Preparing for an electro-tech home
A key trick to getting your home electro-tech right and working without problems means knowing in advance how much power you’ll need to use.
As a home renovator or self builder, it is very important to know the complete list of products that you will eventually want to have in your home. That way, you can be sure to install a control platform that supports them all.
Don’t just think about now, think about the future – even if you think it’s a distant dream. Maybe you don’t have an electric vehicle yet, but it’s on the radar for the next few years?
If so, choose an EV charger that can be controlled by the same software. If you have solar power, make sure the charger can also be left in stand-by mode so the car can top up automatically if you have more generation. Many car chargers also have the facility to connect CT clamps. This protects against overloading the house.
If you are doing a self-build design and need to manage the power connection, you may also want to look into this option. Three phase power supply. This will spread the heavy electrical load over three phases instead of one, reducing the risk of overload.
While these will be more expensive to install, they may provide some security for the future as homes continue to be electrified.
Don’t assume that battery storage solves the overload problem
“But what if I have battery storage? It doesn’t matter,” I hear you ask.
Battery storage does not add to the overall maximum load of the home, and also needs to be managed. The maximum load of the battery is also limited by the solar panel inverter. Why? Since the energy stored in the battery is also DC, it also needs to be converted for use in the home.
If the same inverter is used to convert PV generation and battery energy, it is limited by the size of the PV panel array. So, if you have a typical PV installation If you have about 10 panels on your roof, this will be around 4kW maximum supply.
This basically means that you cannot use more than 4kW at any one time. Any load above 4 kW will come from the grid, no matter how big the battery is.
Management is simple math, but it can mean you either need to set a schedule, or remember to turn things on and off.
Suppose you want to run a washing machine and a tumble dryer and they both draw 3 kW and you have a 14kWh battery. In theory, this is enough to cover the 6kWh usage of the appliances, but they are powered by a 4kW inverter. So, instead of running 2 devices simultaneously (drawing 6kW for 1 hour) you would need to schedule them to run one after the other (drawing 3kW in 2 hours) to maximize the energy in the battery.
My final advice for Electro-Tech? As we get more and more ‘stuff’ into our homes, and we replace fossil fuels with electrically powered technologies, we need to ensure two key things.
First, we have enough energy to run what we want, and second, all the systems and devices we have can be optimized and controlled to meet our expectations. After all, there’s no point in having all the electro-tech if none of it is used.
To dive deeper into the different elements of an electro-tech home, take a look at it What I changed after installing the heat pump in 2018And see my thoughts on whether the changes we’re making could ever come to fruition Zero energy bill home.
