Transitioning to net zero and helping their tenants to live better Local Authorities across the UK are facing the critical challenge in tackling the fuel poverty crisis while reducing their carbon emissions. Funded retrofit programmes are offering a unique opportunity for councils to upgrade their housing stock to help their tenants to live better now, while getting ready for the energy transition ahead. Following their own declaration of a climate emergency in 2019, Birmingham City Council set an ambitious target to reach net zero by 2030, 20 years ahead of the UK government’s own 2050 target. To support this programme, they recently announced plans to retrofit 300 properties in the East Birmingham region to test approaches in thermal efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and providing energy savings for their tenants. To upgrade the hot water tank systems, Mixergy’s heat what you need solution was chosen as the optimal technology and installed across 126 properties, working with Equans as the principal contractor and Legionella and Fire Safe Services as the mechanical contractor. As a result, the council is set to save residents up to £50,000 in hot water bills whilst reducing their carbon impact by over 80 tonnes of CO2 every year. The Mixergy tanks offer the residents complete control over their water heating using a mobile app and integrated tank gauge. Residents can heat between 10% and 100% of the volume in their tank, saving energy and money by using smart schedules and machine learning to heat only the water they need. The tanks also have a boost function, so the residents will never run out of hot water. Improving the quality of living for residents The Mixergy tanks also play an important role in helping the Council to manage hot water hygiene across their housing estate. A fortnightly sterilisation routine automatically ensures that water is heated to a high enough temperature to prevent harmful bacteria such as legionella. Mixergy’s cloud connectivity and enterprise dashboard lets housing management teams remotely monitor their fleet of tanks through an IOT platform. This also helps maintenance teams to diagnose faults remotely, saving money on unnecessary maintenance callouts. The tanks are also future-proofed for connection to a heat pump or solar photovoltaics (PV) should the council choose to install this technology in the future.