Green energy transition: Sector coupling in the home

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Vaillant Group

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2024-03-06

Energy transition
Technologies

Experts have been calling for it for a long time: electricity supply, heat generation and transport need to be intelligently linked. This creates a green and future-proof energy system that is also affordable. In technical language, this is called sector coupling. Vaillant Group employee Antje Weeger has already realised that in her own home.

Sector coupling at the Weegers' home

Antje Weeger undoubtedly is a technical expert. As an industrial engineer and technical sales engineer, she advises on energy-efficient heating systems at the Vaillant Customer Forum in Nuremberg. She has also used this knowledge in her own home, creating a prime example of the energy supply of tomorrow. The impressive building comprises 154 square metres of living space, divided into two children's rooms, a guest room and a study, as well as a large living and dining area. However, the main attraction is hidden in the smallest room of the house: the boiler room. On ten square metres, everything that needs energy is networked together in a single system: from the washing machine to the robotic lawnmower and the electric car to the heat pump and hot water tank. The Weegers exemplify what is required for the success of the energy transition and for a CO₂-neutral future: a networked energy supply based on renewable energies such as wind and solar power. Experts refer to the coordinated generation, distribution and utilisation of energy across all application areas (sectors) as sector coupling.

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Weegers have combined the generation of electricity and heat. They installed a photovoltaic system on the roof, with nine solar modules facing east and nine facing west.

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The system has a peak output of 5.3 kilowatts, which is roughly equivalent to the electricity supply of an average household.

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It generates electricity for all household and garden appliances, the wall box for the electric car and the heat pump.

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The 180-litre buffer tank in the boiler room supplies the entire house with heat via the underfloor heating. In summer, the system can be used for cooling.

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There is also an electricity storage tank in the boiler room, which is also a kind of control centre. For example, it retrieves the weather forecast from the Internet and collects electricity from the photovoltaic system for times when there is little sunshine - including in the evening and at night.

The washing machine only runs during the day

In this way, another dream that many homeowners have is almost casually fulfilled: to be energy self-sufficient. "So far, we have always generated more electricity than we have consumed," says Antje Weeger. She and her family only had to buy electricity from the public grid between November and February - green electricity, of course. An integrated energy system will therefore combine different energy sources and energy carriers in the future. At first glance, the investment in converting the energy systems may seem high, but the bottom line is that it will pay off. The washing machine and dishwasher, for example, only run during the day, i.e. when the photovoltaic system is producing electricity.