Vector and EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) have a shared interest in understanding the impact of energy efficiency and clean energy improvements to housing.

In a collaboration between EECA and Vector, Vector modelled the impact of insulation and heat pump retrofits on electricity consumption at household level.

These results help inform future demand projections, which are used for network planning and management, and may be used to further analysis of emission reduction opportunities.

Key insights:

• Although insulation alone made relatively small annual savings in electricity usage, a reduction in power demand was observed during network peak periods.

• Also, higher savings from insulation were observed for high energy consumers, as well as in owner occupied homes.

• Surprisingly, houses retrofitted with heat pumps showed no overall annual electricity savings, as households tended to use the heat pumps for heating as well as cooling, using less electricity than the control sample when it was cold, but more when it was hot.

Click here for the full report.

Related work: EECA has now published the Warmer Kiwis Study, which can be accessed here.