Mass-produced Energy Pod for Mass Retrofitting

The project focuses on Design for Manufacture, design of assembly and production process, Value Optimisation and development manufacturing capacity for the Ventive EnergyPod, a connected, fully integrated and plug-and-play ventilation, heating and hot water system combining proprietary intelligent ventilation with heat recovery and innovative hybrid heat pump technology, designed for both new dwellings and low energy 'deep' retrofits. In aggregate the systems will form a network of load shifting devices using thermal capacity of the hot water storage and the inertia of each home to shift peak energy use when needed. Since each home is distinctly different (including size, heat loss, thermal mass, occupancy density and patterns, user behaviour and other factors) the EnergyPod will use an array of integrated sensors to continuously assess the indoor environment and adapt the performance of each system learning and optimising it's operation as well as using nudge techniques and user interaction to drive improvements in energy efficiency and load shifting capacity (some users may 'bet' more comfort for financial or other rewards for example).

Ventive and the project partners aim to become an effective link between the building intelligence, building services and building fabric, optimising each home individually and, in aggregate, using homes as virtual power stations, increasing or decreasing their Grid footprint as needed for effective frequency response while monetising the significant energy savings from EnergyPod system (up to 75% from both demand optimisation and off-peaking the time of energy conversion) powering the innovative retrofit financing business model.

Project partners have a strong backing from potential clients including Engie, Melius homes, Nottingham City Homes, One Manchester, Sutton Housing Partnership and others to deliver the EnergyPod solution in large numbers at the right cost. This project is designed to facilitate that.