Poster presented at BECC 2017, Sacramento, California, 15-16th October 2017

1. Manouseli, D., Anderson, B.
A Social Practices-based
Microsimulation Model for Estimating
Domestic Hot Water Demand in the UK
IMPETUS project
Understanding drivers of domestic hot water consumption such as the
weather, demographics, technological change and personal water use
practices is essential for the modeling and long term planning of water supply
infrastructure and energy demand scenarios. However, limited attempts to
effectively address uncertainties related to climate change, variation in social
practices and in responses to water and energy efficiency measures in hot
water demand models have been reported. Because of growing population
and changing water use patterns in the UK, more than half of the current
public water supply is for residential use, while heating water is the second
largest source of energy use in the home.
www.energy.soton.ac.uk
* e-mail: d.manouseli@soton.ac.uk
Introduction
Fig.1: Impetus Model
IMPETUS Model
Fig 2. Hot water micro-components in the households, adjusted for baseline climate conditions. Different
colours represent different years (1994-2014).
Conclusions & Future Work
Contact:
Despina Manouseli d.manouseli@soton.ac.uk
Faculty of Engineering & the Environment (Energy and Climate Change
Division)
Southampton | +44 (0) 7843189293
The opportunity - Intervention
Switching to an eco-showerhead could lead to £55 annual savings on energy
bills for an average household. Thus, whilst controlling domestic water
demand is a priority in the UK, water efficiency is known to also increase
energy efficiency through reduced demand for heated water.
About 23% of
a household's
heating bill is
from heating
the water.
IMPETUS
MODEL
Household
Practices –
Survey Data
Water Use
Micro-
components
Historical
Drought
Records for
Southeast
UK
Weather
Data
Water
Efficiency
Intervention
Scenarios
Effect of
Drought/Efficiency
Interventions on
Water and Energy
Demand
Fig 4. Hot water saving for shower
under the baseline efficiency scenario
Fig 5. Hot water saving for shower
under the drought (additional) efficiency
scenario
The models suggest that the installation of efficient showerheads appears to
have a substantial impact on not only water consumption but also, as a
consequence, energy demand. Future work will assess the effect of scenarios
of other ‘water efficiency’ interventions as well as ‘water use’ behaviour change
on energy demand. We hope this will identify opportunities for water-energy
nexus interventions to reduce demand on both resources at the same time.
Fig 3. Hot water for showers,
under the baseline efficiency
(hypothesized a 2% yearly
uptake rate) and the drought
efficiency scenario
(hypothesized as a doubling
(Developing/Recovering),
trebling (Drought) or
quadrupling (Severe drought)
of the monthly rates of
uptake)