Energy-saving solutions from Mitsubishi Electric at Ecobuild 09

(11/03/2009)

Mitsubishi Electric will showcase the latest advances in residential heating, ventilation and power generation equipment at the Ecobuild 09 Exhibition, on 3-5 March at London's Earls Court.

On display at the company's stand is the Ecodan air source heat pump range which is already proven to lower emissions over modern gas boilers by up to 50%. They can also lower running costs by around 30% as well, and in these days of rising gas prices and fuel poverty, that’s got to be good news.

“We have designed Ecodan to address the need for low carbon, mass market home heating,” explained Donald Daw, Commercial Director for the company. “The heat pump system can be fitted by a qualified plumber and adding one of these to a new home will immediately help it achieve Level 3 of the Code – required by 2010 – which is a 25% reduction in energy use from current building regulations, and can also get you a long way towards Level 4.”

The company will also be showing off its new range of Photovoltaic (PV) power generating products for both residential and commercial applications. Mitsubishi Electric is unique within the PV industry because it manufactures all of the components itself – the cells, the panels and the inverters, which convert the DC electricity from sunlight into usable AC power for the home. “Customers can, therefore, be sure that if they use those Mitsubishi Electric components together they will always get a system that works at optimum efficiency,” added Daw.

Originally developed for use on satellites to generate power in space, PV technology is now used to generate power for commercial and domestic use all around the world. The PV panels are made up of photovoltaic cells composed of polycrystalline silicon wafers. When light falls on these cells they generate electricity and to make up a panel, many cells are joined together to create a substantial amount of power.

“It’s a common misconception that photovoltaic panels only generate power in bright sunlight, when in fact they generate power in daylight,” explained Daw. “Even on cloudy days power is still being generated and fed into the inverter to feed the power supply in your house.”

Mitsubishi Electric PV systems are totally silent and virtually maintenance-free, to provide a renewable energy generation system that will last through many owners of the property and long into the future.

Also on the company’s stand is a new range of heat recovery ventilation units for the residential market, which address the need to provide energy efficient ventilation to well-insulated, modern homes.

“As we build more and more energy efficient homes, we’re actually making them more airtight and it’s therefore difficult to achieve a fresh, comfortable indoor air quality,” commented Daw. “We therefore need new ways to ventilate these homes that help save energy and are versatile enough to offer help in the heat of the summer.”

The traditional way to ventilate homes is with trickle ventilation, but this is dependent on the strength of the wind and also brings cold air directly in from the outside so they are very inefficient energy-wise. Mitsubishi Electric’s new residential Lossnay unit sits in the loft space and passes exhaust air from the home, through a heat exchanger to heat up the incoming fresh air. Its unique paper core is different from other systems because it has a higher efficiency level that also allows some moisture transfer between the outgoing and incoming air streams.

One of the other major advantages of the Lossnay system is that in summer, when houses have heated up in the day, a special bypass mode can be used to bring in cool fresh air at night to keep the occupants at a comfortable temperature.

“Despite the current recession, as a nation, we are desperate for new homes and these will need to be built, but at the same time, we must find ways of reducing the environmental impact of these homes,” explained Daw. “The Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes lays down strict guidelines on how we get to zero carbon housing and we have now brought forward a range of innovative products that can help us achieve this.”

Related categories:  Cogeneration, combined heat and power   Environmental technologies for Residential and Green homes   Insulation   Solar power and photovoltaics