Energy Management: Comfort, energy waste and the heating season

So another long balmy summer comes to a sudden end (or does it)?

No - Sharply defined heating seasons are a lazy shorthand for "I don't care if I maximize comfort given my energy budget".

Energy Use and Comfort are strongly related

Lets look at the anonymous chart below.

Heating consumption (Gas in yellow) follows an almost square wave form

The truth is that not all summer day are balmy and not all winter days are freezing. Very often I see heating patterns that "toggle" on and off on the basis of an arbitrary heating season.

Often energy is wasted in a trade off for comfort

So without the complexity of degree days lets look at how we might (simplistically) think a need for heat might respond to a need for comfort

Better Energy Performance, Comfort or Both

The problem is either that people are heating when they should not, or not heating when they should, and the bias between the two determines whether you can have better comfort for less energy, just better comfort, or just better energy use!

But what if its comfortable ?

Wasted heat is often overcome by cooling ! - If your building has a squarewave response to falling temperatures or an arbitrary heating season - you are either jeoparding comfort or performance or both.

Short post - but worth considering - As ever comments appreciated below

James