General FAQ

This general FAQ section is designed to answer your basic questions. If we don't answer a specific question you have, you can ask us.
It would be best to read the Questions & Answers FAQ first; then this FAQ, and you can get more detailed information in the technical FAQ next.

Top 12 questions

Here are the questions you should know the answer to before you venture into energy or sustainability decisions. They may be helpful before reading further through our website.
What is the difference between going with a HONE solution versus a Heat Pump Solution?

The most significant difference is that the HONE solution is 100% renewable and makes free energy, whereas a heat pump is an electric heating system and consumes electricity.

If you choose to use electric-powered heat pumps, this requires you to pay an electricity bill for heating and hot water each month (and regular electricity & EV charging, in due course, on your electric bills). (Note that recharging an electric car from empty can use up to 10 days worth of a homes standard electric power consumption before you even consider a heat-pump)

You get very low or negative carbon results with a HONE Zero Emissions or PEB solution. Still, as all that energy is 100% free clean, renewable energy, you also get low annual running costs & clean air.

A 120 sqm home built to current building regulations should have a heating bill of approx €75/£70 a year with a HONE system.

You can also make your own free electric vehicle electricity instead of buying it.

And this is why a home with a HONE solution can easily be an A1 Zero Emissions home, a Net Zero home or even a PEB home. All are certified by the European Commission Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and hence by all EU Governments (UK by the Governments Standard Assessment Procedure SAP).

Don’t forget the best energy rated home in Europe and Ireland, and probably the world is powered by HONE Thermal/Electric Technology and is a 2006 retrofit home with a micro oil boiler.

Why are some Governments promoting Heat-Pumps & Electric Vehicles ?

You might be surprised to learn why your Government is switching you from fossil fuel to electric everything – it is because fossil fuel has to be removed by 2050 under the Paris Agreement.

After that, It’s primarily because of all the hidden taxation that governments will lose when you stop buying all this fossil fuel.

Typical Government policy is to switch you to buying electricity, hoping to green it up with large scale renewables before it also attracts too much carbon taxes.

This will mean you still have to buy your energy, and that can be taxed.

By 2050, which is only 28 years from now, the planet will be fully weaned from carbon-based fuels, and it’s not a wish; it is the law worldwide.

Have a look at your electricity grid emissions in real-time: https://www.electricitymap.org/zone

NOTE: Ireland has withdrawn supplying information to this portal since around the time of the grid alerts in Nov/Dec 2021 for reasons unexplained.

NOTE: To find out the emissions at your socket, you need to multiply the power generation emissions on the map above by the primary energy factor for your country. (UK – 1.501 & IE – 2.08)

Which is likely to happen to the price of electricity?

Jan 2022 Update: Due to high gas demand, electricity prices have doubled in recent months. It is unknown if or when this will ease as gas demand is part of the 2050 renewable energy strategy. Electricity is likely to get even more expensive.

Look at the investments that are planned to go into moving all vehicles and buildings onto the electricity grid. You can only imagine that the price per kWh will continue to climb to repay those investments. There will be new announcements of electricity price increases each year, with wholesale rates expected to increase by 250% by 2040. Electricity prices of 45 euro cents to 70 euro cents per kWh is what you should be planning to avoid.

Grids across the globe will need billions in grid upgrade investments, and users of the system will end up paying for this.

Also, as carbon tax increases each year until 2050, this will add further costs on top of electricity prices.

The Netherlands, for example, which is leading the EV and heat-pump push in Europe, has already seen its electricity prices increase by 19.6% from 2019 to 2020. (source – https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat)

Your government is relying on you to keep purchasing your energy for transport, heating & power long into the future so they can raise taxation from you.

Graph courtesy of Energy Brainpool, link here.

Which fuels produce carbon at the point of use?

This varies from country to country, but the following is typical (list shows the lowest carbon to highest carbon generation)

  • Wind  – none
  • Solar  – none
  • Nuclear  – technically, none
  • bioLPG – none
  • HVO – none
  • Natural Gas
  • Kerosene
  • Heavy Oil
  • Peat
  • Coal
  • Electricity
Are there regulations regarding deploying renewable technologies?

Yes and No.

If you are deploying renewable heating, cooling & power in a private system/grid format, then no, it is completely unregulated bar natural health & safety rules which may be in the form of national wiring rules and/or mechanical/electrical regulations on installation.

If you are getting a government grant or payment, additional rules are applied to meet the grant requirements. In the EU, there is a requirement for member states to produce and manage public lists of competent installers as per the Renewable Energy Directive RED.

However, if you deploy small “on-grid” electrical renewables, then there are rules and regulations, and the size of your renewable electrical system is restricted.

Depending on the size of the installation, different levels of rules apply. This is typically known as grid-connected or on-grid electrical installations. The rules are not dissimilar in approach in each country but may and usually do have different values.

In an off-grid OR private grid, renewable electricity systems that are NOT connected to the grid typically have no regulations or limitations in size. You can build a house or factory and install a 10,000 MW renewable system if you wish.

The most important thing about deploying renewable technologies, whether small or large, is planning and designing the best solution.

What renewable applications are suitable for me?

You can deploy any renewable energy technology in any application in any type or size of installation.

The important thing is that the system should be designed efficiently and effectively for the application.

For example, if you have an application that uses heating, cooling & electricity, you need a mixed renewable approach for the highest efficiency & savings.

Using renewable electricity to run electrical appliances is good, but using that same renewable electricity for heating loads is inefficient and suggests a poor design or a supplier with only one technology to offer.

In modern homes and businesses, heating, hot water, & electricity should be delivered using thermal & electric renewables.

If you are being offered a “default” package, then clearly, this is not designed and is a one size fits all approach or a sales-driven approach. Homes and businesses are not products, and they are the centre of our home or work lives, so considered design solutions would maximise your return on investment and benefits.

There is an EPC process for homes & businesses in Europe (EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) such as SAP in the UK (regardless of Brexit) and DEAP/NEAP in Ireland. These should be completed for the decision-makers before any decisions are made.

Is Europe's best energy rated home fuelled by HONE?

Yes, since 2018, when it was completed and completely unchallenged since.

Europe and Ireland’s best energy rated home is a 2006 retrofit home that has exceeded all other technologies in Europe, including new build homes, passive homes, and this home is interesting because it is a retrofit of a standard concrete block house.

This home has a designed HONE Heat, Power & Drive system and is 100% private-grid and has no external energy for heating, power & transport. The home refuels its electric vehicles for free.

(see the case studies section to read more)

What is a heat-pump?

A Heat Pump is an electric heating unit with a compressor just like your fridge. It looks like an air conditioning unit, and it should never be placed on the side of houses with bedrooms due to the fan noise.

Imagine the inside of your fridge (the cold bit) is the outside of your house, and the back of your fridge (the hot bit) with the mesh that heats up is the bit that gives heat into your house.

What’s happening is that the fridge removes heat from inside the fridge to make it cool and releases this heat from the back mesh into the room. It does this using a compressor.

So turn that around; the inside of your fridge represents your heat pump outside your house, and the heat pump is trying to make the outside colder. This energy (accompanied by a lot of electricity consumption) creates heat representing the heated mesh at the back of your fridge.

A heat pump is effectively a fridge process in reverse.

NOTE: It is NOT a boiler; a heat pump has to be left turned on permanently; it provides maintenance heat (top-up) only.

In cold weather, they typically have immersion elements built-in, which will provide additional heat when the heat pump would struggle. This is why electricity bills with heat pumps increase significantly during cold weather.

(See the video on how  a heat pump works in the Questions and Answers FAQ)

Does HONE use a heat-pump or something like that?

No, we are 100% renewable energy using daylight as fuel, that’s it, plain and simple.

Older technologies need sunshine, but our advanced next-generation nanotechnology uses daylight, reflected in the performance results.

Always ask to see performance data and live data, not an excel spreadsheet; or sales material; get it directly from online systems’ data. Proof, not promises.

Otherwise, you shouldn’t believe it.

If it’s real, it will be live online up to the minute you see it & is the only evidence you should believe.

Is there an opportunity for me to do something differently?

Absolutely, we are all at a fork in the road, which applies to home life and business in equal measure.

Whilst we have to decarbonise our lives between now and 2050, there is “the elephant in the room”.

The significant hidden taxation on fossil fuel, up to 67% of the money you spend on buying energy for buildings and transport, will have to raised by Government from new sources. Your government will want you to keep purchasing energy. This is very understandable if you stand in their shoes.

They will bombard you with messaging, grants and other strategies to decarbonise you to green energy options but only in a way that you will still have to buy your new green energy centrally as with heat pumps and electric cars.

If you have already figured out this, you will know that you can very easily change direction and start making your own free clean energy to heat, cool & power your home, cars and business.

Not alone will you reduce or even eliminate bills, you will have clean air and significantly more disposable income for your family or business.

As electricity prices and carbon taxes increase from now through to 2050, your energy bills are just going to climb higher and higher.

Now is your ideal opportunity to do it a different way and join the energy revolution.

What is HONE's Certification?

HONE Thermal, Thermal Electric & Electric Technology is certified in over 160 countries globally.

ISO 9806, ISO9001, IEC60904, IEC61215, EN12975, BAFA Germany, Keymark FR, Keymark ES, Keymark NL, Keymark DE, Keymark PL,Keymark IT, Keymark CH, Keymark AT, MCS UK, SEAI, SRCC USA, OG-100, OFGEM, ACA, Triple-E, NZS/AS.

Worldwide notified bodies for HONE Product Certification are TUV Rhineland GmbH in Europe, TUV NORD in Asia & ICC-SRCC in the Americas.

What is HONE's Warranty?

The performance warranty on HONE generation technology is up to 25 years.

HONE technology has a design life of 50 years.

Whilst this may seem like a significant warranty, it is actually part of the ISO certification and testing process. Every thermal or electric panel technology has to be independently tested and certified to international standards.

This makes investments in our renewable technology secure and safe.

https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/bigstock-Team-Of-Construction-Engineers-3673393872.jpg
hone

What is HONE?

This is a simple explanation of what HONE technology is all about. More complex explanations are available in the technical FAQ section.
Is HONE a Technology?

HONE Thermal technology is based on advanced nanotechnology developed by Photonomi Global Group a.r.l. (which owns us), which harvests daylight as fuel.

HONE Electric technology is based on 3-dimensional semiconductor technology with nanotechnology feature sizes designed for the built environment, not solar farms, although it also works there. (also developed by Photonomi Global Group a.r.l.)

HONE Electric/Thermal-Electric/Thermal technology can face west, east or any angles and get record-breaking performance over legacy solar technologies. This is why it outperforms regular Solar, ask for the proof of annual data, we love data as it’s the only proof you can rely on.

(detailed information in the technical FAQ)

What is the difference between HONE & other Renewable Technologies?

The major difference between HONE and traditional renewable technologies’ is that HONE was developed specifically for the “built” environment. The technology is designed to harvest daylight and not sunlight, so it performs better on existing buildings and poor light, cloudy or inclement weather.

The development of HONE has been based on investing heavily in advanced nanoscience to create more energy per sqm, especially in challenging environments. The renewable industry has been focused on keeping the same old technology and making it cheaper to manufacture. This has not been our approach; we can always improve older technologies.

Remember, Solar PV, Solar Thermal & Heat Pumps are technologies all developed in the 1800s…

Current solar hot water panel science is on the market since 1891, and heat pumps are on the market since 1863.

What is the science behind HONE?

The science behind HONE is proprietary and is only available in HONE branded systems.

We do not manufacture a product for anyone else.

(See the videos for technical explanations)

What technologies can be developed from HONE nanoscience?

Nanotechnology is a game-changing set of tools in science, still an emerging science and only around since the 1980s, so very new in the world of science.

HONE research involves many innovations using just daylight and air as fuel; this is the HONE research’s fundamental fuel criteria. This includes research in water generation, waste treatment, hydrogen, desalination, among others.

Energy as a FREE fuel model

Right now, we are all facing life-changing options regarding our lifestyle.

The Paris Agreement, which aims to decarbonise the planet by 2050, will change our lives significantly no matter what part of the world we live in.

You have two options; firstly, you can follow the course your government will set you on. This is one where they will try and move your lifestyle onto a green energy source, “but” one which is centralised where you have to keep buying your energy.

But you have another option; you could decide to transition your lifestyle to “free” energy sources where you generate your own energy without payment to anyone for that free energy from the sky.

Both options will require you to make significant investments to avoid future carbon taxes and penalties, but only one of them gives you a free energy future. Your government will never support or promote this as they would lose billions in hidden taxation each year.

To prove the point, don’t forget Europe’s best energy rated home is in the west of Ireland and produces all of its heating, power & transport using free renewable energy.

If you can do this in the west of Ireland, you can do this anywhere.

Benefits of HONE

The benefits of HONE are significant on several fronts.
Performance

Regardless of which type of energy you require HONE to deliver, you will have a leading performance with the highest certified outputs per sqm as a significant benefit.

This means you can deliver large amounts of renewable energy from winter to summer. In fact, the thermal performance of HONE can be higher in December & January than traditional solar thermal in summer.

See the technical FAQ for the more detailed performance section.

We also publish performance data on our Twitter account – Click Here

Daylight versus Sunlight

Many sales companies in the renewable industry make false “daylight” claims, but only HONE was engineered to harvest daylight over sunlight in both thermal & electric technologies. The outstanding live results of HONE performance is the result of this.

HONE specifically harvests daylight over sunlight. The technology is different, more complex and slightly more expensive, but the results are clearcut.

Any day you compare legacy renewable technologies against HONE in challenging conditions, you will see the staggering performance advantage, especially in cloudy weather and in winter.

See the technical FAQ for the more detailed performance section.

We also publish performance data on our Twitter account – Click Here.

HONE Versus Heat Pump fuel bills and CO2 emissions

If you take any existing house as an example, let’s say it is a traditional oil-fired or gas-fired heating system. You are contemplating doing something to improve your comfort and hear all this noise about heat pumps.

Imagine your home needs 15,000 kWhrs of heating a year. That equates to €900 per year at current kerosene rates at 61 c/L in Ireland and £615 in the UK.

Now, instead of HONE, let’s add a heat pump to the home, and we will use the two heat pumps studies carried out by the Energy Savings Trust and the second one by the UK Government delivered by B.R.E., which showed a mean COP of 2.7 over the year on all those heat pumps studied.

So we take the 15,000 kWhrs of heat that we need, we divide it by 2.7 to allow for the heat pumps SPF (annual average COP) and get a requirement for 5,555 kWh of electricity to make 15,000 of heat.

Let’s take 20 c/kWh in Ireland and 0.14 p/kWh in the Uk, which means our new heating bill is €1,111 with a heat pump in Ireland and £777.70 in the UK.

In this example, you would have spent potentially 10s of thousands of your money installing a heat pump, 1) the heat pump controls, 2) totally new plumbing, 3) new larger radiators, 4) possibly underfloor, etc. and have more expensive heating bills.

This is why the Government always makes insulation upgrades and airtightness a requirement of Heat Pump installations so that the bills will be smaller, but they would also be smaller if you stayed on oil or gas.

The net result is that you would have an even bigger bill, 23% higher each year, by switching to a heat pump in a like for like comparison.

Now let’s look at your annual CO2 emissions:

We will use Ireland data here only as SAP 10 will change UK data shortly.

If you stayed on Heating Oil, you would be producing 4.48 tonnes of CO2 a year.

With the new Heat Pump, you are now producing 4.72 tonnes of CO2 a year. Granted, the grid will get greener, but the point is that it will also get more expensive due to the investments that have to go into upgrading it.

NOTE: This is why you can’t get a grant without spending significant money on fabric upgrades; € 40,000 on fabric upgrades should be considered in many cases, according to SEAI’s heat pump grant information. Now you see the logic.

There is a better way, and we didn’t even discuss the savings that HONE would have delivered on the original €1,111 kerosene bill.

As gas is cheaper than kerosene, this would be a bigger saving versus the heat pump option.

As you can see from the element energy report below online, the two main studies in the UK on heat pump annual performance measured as SPF (average COP per year) was determined as 2.75 as per the Energy Savings Trust Study, and 2.65 by the Governments own study of over 700 heat pumps which B.R.E conducted.

Next time some salesperson quotes you fantasy Heat Pump COP’s of 1:3 or 1:4 or even bigger, show them this.

That full report below is the “hybrid” heat pump report showing how using gas boilers alongside heat pumps is more efficient than heat pumps on their own, highly technical and not for the faint-hearted.

Hybrid_heat_pumps_Final_report-

Application Matrix

The application matrix refers to the multi-generation mix of different energy options.

This can be as simple as renewable hot water & power in residential applications or heating, cooling, power, green hydrogen & vehicle charging in commercial applications.

HONE provides many options for solutions with single systems providing multiple energy outputs, all optimised for maximum investment return.

ZE Zero Emissions Delivered Easy

ZE stands for (near Zero Emissions), Europe’s 2050 building standard. The EU is retiring nZEB from 2030, so it would be wise to build to ZE and not to nZEB as you “WILL” have to retrofit your nZEB building from 2030.

It also applies to commercial and public buildings.

HONE produces 100% renewable energy and has the highest certified performance ratings. Achieving ZE is easy and cost-effective, but achieving a higher than ZE rating for any residential or commercial building is so straight forward you can quickly achieve A1 ZE ratings with standard building U values.

Since December 15th 2021, ZE also applies to anyone with an existing home or building who wants to renovate if this renovation involves more than 25% of the surface area, and all homes & buildings must meet ZE by 2050.

See the case study section for a new build & retrofit nZEB residential case study.

Net Zero Delivered Easy

Net Zero is the direction the UK is going via the soon to be released Future Building Standard.

It also applies to commercial and public buildings.

As HONE produces 100% renewable energy and has the highest certified performance rating. Achieving Net Zero is easy and cost-effective, but achieving a higher than Net Zero rating for any residential or commercial building is also straightforward. You can easily exceed Net Zero ratings with standard building U values.

See the case study section for a new build & retrofit Net Zero residential case study.

Private Grid Has Arrived

The world of off-grid (or private grid or micro-grid) has clearly arrived.

The ability to make your own heat, cooling, power and electric vehicle power all free forever is here.

We can design any size system for any property. Is your current supplier only offering you limited sizes of installations, like a 6KW maximum on your home?

Forget that; we can give you whatever size you want, so if you want a 1MW home renewable electric system and have a field out the back, then no problem.

Read the case study on Europe’s best-energy rated home (located in the west of Ireland), which is completely off-grid since 2018. This home is a 2006 concrete built home that was renovated but not how the government would suggest.

There are no monthly bills, and if you can do it in this location, you can do it anywhere in the world.

See the private-grid case study for a real-life example.

https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/billing.jpg
https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/multires-a.jpg

How does it work

This FAQ outlines the basics of how HONE technology works. More detailed explanations can be found in other sections.
Thermal

HONE Thermal uses a proprietary science that uses a cool core with a hot outer ring to harvest daylight. This science uses the laws of thermodynamics to fool heat losses into being trapped within the system. This allows temperatures to build up into very high temperatures even when there is no sunlight, and it is cold outside.

Legacy solar thermal systems use a physics effect called the “greenhouse” effect; this effect is the same effect your car or conservatory is influenced by.

The greenhouse effect requires the sun to work and hence is the reason why your conservatory is cold, and your traditional solar hot water panels don’t work in winter or when it is overcast. HONE Thermal technology does not require sunlight, and it will operate with any outside air temperature.

(detailed information in the technical FAQ)

Electric

HONE Electric technology uses a proprietary three-dimensional semi-conductor at the nanoscale, which has some exciting effects.

This structured semiconductor approach allows the panels to face any direction and is designed for the “built” environment.

The pyramidic structure allows the collection of diffused daylight in large quantities versus traditional Solar PV.

(detailed information in the technical FAQ)

Thermal/Electric

HONE Thermal/Electric technology is an amalgamation of both HONE technologies together.

A HONE Thermal/Electric panel makes both heat & power. This means you can extract high-temperature heat and electricity at the same time.

HONE TE panels have the world’s highest output certified rating.

(detailed information in the technical FAQ)

Integration

Integration is the exercise of connecting renewable energy into your existing or new distribution systems.

It’s important to remember that HONE is an energy technology; we make 100% free renewable energy. A HONE Thermal/Electric System makes 100% free renewable heating & electricity.

This energy must be connected to your existing systems, such as your existing or new radiators/underfloor or electrical wiring.

HONE energy systems can be integrated into any legacy or new system, even complex ones.

Lifestyle

The biggest opportunity we all have is a lifestyle change. We can apply this to residential, commercial or industrial projects.

Moving to clean, free energy will have numerous advantages. On top of significant energy savings & the move to clean energy, you also benefit from clean air and fewer health risks.

The world is heading for decarbonisation by 2050, and we will not find the solutions in old or legacy technology.

https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/plumbing.jpg

Heat (Cooling), Power & Drive

This section explains the basic applications using HONE, more detailed information is available elsewhere on our website.
Residential Mix

Typical new build residential solutions involve hot water & power solutions for A1 Zero Emissions or Net Zero compliance.

These systems are straightforward configurations and can be applied to any residential home, from a small terrace house to large apartment blocks.

Retrofit solutions can be more complex as homes could range from 10 to 150 years old, but there will be a solution possible for all options. In retrofit projects, we can also include renewable heating and renewable hot water & power options.

On top of compliance requirements, you may wish to add enhanced renewable options such as drive options where you charge your electric car(s) using your own free electricity.

Commercial Mix

Renewable energy projects involving commercial buildings are far more interesting. They can involve more complex designs involving heating, cooling, electricity, which plug into existing services. These can be varied, such as factory processes, office buildings, schools, leisure centres of any size building.

The integration of HONE systems into existing commercial buildings is usually not that difficult, and with new buildings even easier.

Industrial Mix

Industrial projects are not unlike commercial projects but larger in scale.

These type of projects can also feed into campus projects.

Strategy

The project design strategy will normally be dependent on several factors, especially locality and whether there are underlying issues. The ultimate goal is to switch from the energy you purchase to making your own energy.

Examples of these may be intermittent existing energy supplies or unreliable delivery, or price stability.

Multi Delivery Systems

Multi-delivery systems are a single system that has more than one application requirement.

An extreme example would a plant of any size in a country that needs to deliver electricity, hot water, cooling, electricity and EV charging resources where the central supplies are unreliable.

This would involve HONE Thermal/Electric plant with thermal and battery storage, a private grid with grid access.

These systems are highly technical and our design teams’ speciality.

https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/plumbing.jpg
https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ev-charging.jpg

Electric Vehicles

This FAQ outlines the basic information on Electric Vehicles and how they are fuelled.
What is an electric vehicle?

An electric vehicle is a vehicle with a battery that propels itself using one or more electric motors. It is a straightforward concept. Most people have seen small toy cars for children which you plug in and charge; these are small versions of the concept.

Thomas Parker, an English inventor responsible for innovations such as electrifying the London Underground, overhead tramways in Liverpool and Birmingham, built the first production electric car in Wolverhampton in 1884.

However, many people were dabbling in prototypes before this in several countries.

What different types of EV are there?

There are several EV variants, but we believe that a real EV has a charging plug; otherwise, it is an enhanced version of an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle.

1/ A BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) is a battery-electric vehicle; you plug it in, charge it up and drive it. When it runs out of power, you need to recharge it. It is identical to your mobile phone in that regard.

2/ A PHEV (Plug-In Electric Vehicle) is a battery-electric vehicle; you plug it in, charge it up and drive it. The difference here is that it has a range extender. This engine then charges the battery and is usually an ICE engine (petrol/diesel). This means you extend the range and keep going as long as you keep refuelling the charging engine.

3/ A HEV or FCEV is a Hydrogen Electric Vehicle. This is the same as a PHEV except it has a Hydrogen Fuel Cell instead of a petrol engine to deliver the extended range. An FCEV does not need to be charged; this is done onboard the car/truck/train/plane by the fuel cell. You will need to fill up your hydrogen tank with H2 (Hydrogen), but this only takes the same time as petrol or diesel.

If the hydrogen is green, it is made from water and renewable power. It is seen as the future of transport, and water vapour is the only emissions from H2 vehicles.

In 1807, Swiss inventor Francois Isaac de Rivaz designed and prototyped the first four-wheel vehicle with an internal combustion engine that ran on hydrogen with the hydrogen stored inside a balloon.

Refuelling a Hydrogen Vehicle - VIDEO
How do I charge an EV?

An EV, whether it’s a BEV or a PHEV, is easy to charge.

The public charge points need you to register in advance, and you get a smart card in the post, usually an RFID card which you tap on the public charge point. Follow the instructions on the device and always remember to get your car off the charge point as soon as you are finished so that someone else waiting can charge.

Public charge points are not free and typically a lot more expensive than charging at home. (They used to be free, of course)

But you will typically be charging at home for the majority of the time if you sized your battery correctly.

If you buy a new EV, your dealer will arrange the ChargePoint for you.

If you buy a second-hand EV, you can contact any electrical contractor, and they will arrange it. In certain countries, there are grants available for the cost of installing an EV charge point.

Are there different charge point options?

Yes, there are many different options.

A standard charge point is the simplest; you plug the lead into your car just like you plug in a toaster. It’s a bigger cable and plug but the same concept.

There are several other options; you can get higher charge capacity units to shorten the time to charge, you can get charge units that will take the excess from your own renewable electricity system and put it into your car instead of exporting it to the grid, most times that renewable energy is lost or you get paid a small price for it.

You can also get smart charge points with wifi and smartphone apps.

If your charge point is exposed, then you need one which can be locked and protected.

Additionally, fast public charge points come with leads, slower ones can be socket points, and you’ll need a special lead to join your vehicle to these charge points. (these leads typically are NOT supplied with your vehicle and have to be purchased)

If it sounds complicated, don’t worry, it’s not really, there are lots of people to help you adapt to a new way of doing the same thing.

Which is better for the environment, EV or ICE?

This is subject to much debate, but the facts are easy to uncover with basic research.

Electricity is typically the most polluting fuel we use unless nuclear power is used. Electricity emissions at the socket in your building are calculated by the power station or grid emissions at generation multiplied by the loses in transmission lines getting the power to you.

In Ireland, this is currently averaged at 409 grams/CO2/kWh annually at generation and primary energy value (energy lost in transmission/distribution) of 2.08. Multiplying these together gives you the emissions at your socket, 850 grams/CO2/kWh.

In contrast, a new Audi A4 2.0L petrol car produces 117 grams/CO2/km. To translate that into EV speak, the best EV will do 100kms for 18kWhrs, or 5.55 km per kWh. (only a handful of petrol/diesel cars fall below 100 grams CO2/km)

Multiplying 117 x 5.5 = 650 grams/CO2/kWh equivalent. So EV at 850 grms/CO2 versus Audi A4 at 650 grams/CO2 when compared.

In the screenshot taken below of live grid data, March 7th 2021, @ 10 am, the Irish grid produced more than 1 KG of CO2 for every kWh used at your socket. (see grid data live here)

In reality, EV’s are only clean if you make clean, renewable electricity on your own building.

Can I make my own electricity to charge my EV?

Yes, you can, and every free kWh that goes into your electric car will save you 0.60c (petrol prices of €1.35).

If you make your own green electricity, you will not alone have emission-free transport and clean air; it will also be free.

Having your own renewable energy making free electricity means you can refuel your EV for free.

The economics of this are significant, and the benefits for the environment are similarly significant.

If your sole purpose of moving from ICE to EV is to be greener, this may not really be the case if you are charging using the grid. That may change in years to come, but grids have significant CO2 emissions, and the grid is needed to refill your EV if you charge your car at home from the grid without renewables.

Should I aim to have the biggest battery and hence range in my EV?

In simple terms, no. There is a trade-off with battery weight.

Unlike petrol or diesel cars, if you make short journeys all the time, you put 10 euros/pounds/dollars into your tank. If you need a longer range, you fill it up with more fuel. There is no negative on short journeys versus long journeys in petrol/diesel cars.

However, this does not work in the EV world; if you buy an EV with a big battery and hence a range that is much bigger than you need, you will carry that weight around all the time. Batteries are heavy and cumbersome. (A BMW i3 EV at 2.2 Tonne weight is nearly the same weight as a BMW 7 Series at 2.4 Tonne.)

Ideally, you buy an EV with the range that suits your daily range. If Car A-200 has a range of 200kms and Car B-400 has a range of 400 km, then the battery will be twice as heavy in the second car.

This means that you will need to charge on the motorways when you need to make a long journey. This is why hybrids have become very popular.

How can I support EV's at my business for my staff?

If you want to create and support the change to EVs in your staff and demonstrate your support for decarbonisation of transport, you can install an electric renewable coupled charge point system. This means you are providing your employees with free renewable electricity directly from your building to their cars.

If you then make EV parking spaces closer to your building’s front door, your employees will see multiply benefits from changing from ICE to EV.

Your customers and suppliers will also see the benefits, and the result will be cleaner air.

What is the cost model for EV charging and renewable energy?

When you drive an EV and use 1 kWhr of electricity, this saves you approx 60c/55p in avoided petrol or diesel cost.

If you also make your own free renewable electricity, then your kWh of travel saves 60c/55p directly into your pocket.

Renewable electricity projects that include significant EV charging have swift payback times.

HONE Packages

This section explains the basic packages using HONE in buildings.
Renewable Heating (including DHW) + Cooling

HONE packages for renewable heating typically also involve DHW (hot water) service as well.

However, in commercial installations, this may only involve heating. An example is where multiple HONE Thermal or Thermal/Electric arrays directly feed a district heating pipe underground. In this case, the district pipe is used as storage.

HONE Renewable Heating systems also deliver high-temperature heat to cooling chillers to make free cooling/air-con. Using HONE Thermal/Electric panels, these cooling systems can be fully off-grid, so they are perfect for extreme applications such as remote islands.

Renewable Heating & Power (including DHW)

These are the most common HONE systems, providing renewable heat & power.

HONE packages typically consist of Thermal/Electric Panels along with additional Electric panels.

HONE systems make energy, so they plug into your building’s systems to deliver that energy.

These systems deliver up to 100% of your annual energy requirements, and all this energy is free and clean forever.

There is no limit to how much energy you can produce; it’s all down to good design.

Check out the case study section to see examples.

Renewable Heating, Power & Drive (including DHW)

The addition of “drive” solutions to a building, whether residential or commercial, is now a significant requirement. Charging EV’s using your own free energy systems is the holy grail of future transport refuelling.

The opportunity to go from buying petrol & diesel to making your own free electricity forever when charging your EV is a game-changer.

Whether residential or commercial, charging solutions can be any size.

When building a new building, whether large or small, residential or commercial, placing the correct Heat, Power & drive solutions will future proof your lifestyle. While car charging costs may be free or low cost at the moment, the significant investments going into grid infrastructure will have to be recouped from users.

Go green and go free from the very beginning; it’s too big an opportunity to miss.

All HONE system systems come with fully integrated management systems, so all devices talk to each other, and you can see real-time data.

Residential Options

HONE residential packages…

NEW BUILD HOMES

  • Heat (DHW) & Power

New build homes, whether individual homes or large scale apartment blocks, need to meet nZEB or Net Zero compliance depending on the country. We can tailor a HONE system to meet these requirements easily. If you need to add extra electric vehicle charging requirements or other use, we can also supply this element.

Please see the case study section, for example.

RETROFIT HOMES

  • Renewable Heating (with DHW)

This system generates free renewable heat at high temperature into a special storage system and leaves your existing boiler as backup. This system provides heating and hot water on demand. It is especially suited to retrofit homes that are difficult to upgrade. This system significantly reduces your annual heating consumption. These systems are supplied as full kits with all material components.

  • Renewable Heating & Power (with DHW)

This system generates free renewable heat at high temperature into a special storage system and leaves your existing boiler as backup. This system also makes free renewable electricity which slows down and stops your meter. This system provides heating and hot water, and electricity on demand. It is especially suited to retrofit homes that are difficult to upgrade. This system significantly reduces your annual heating & power consumption. These systems are supplied as full kits with all material components.

  • Renewable Heating, Power & Drive (with DHW)

This system generates free renewable heat at high temperature into a special storage system and leaves your existing boiler as backup. This system also makes free renewable electricity for both your house & electric vehicle, which slows down and stops your meter. This system provides heating and hot water, and electricity on demand and EV charging. It is especially suited to retrofit homes that are difficult to upgrade. This system significantly reduces your annual heating & power consumption. These systems are supplied as full kits with all material components.

These solutions will typically bring your home up to an A1 Super nZEB rating regardless of your current energy rating.

  • Battery Systems

You can add battery systems to these packages, which turn the systems into self-consumption packages for electricity. This means you harvest your electricity and store the excess to use later on or at night.

  • Private Grid

Private Grid or Micro Grids are specialised systems. Unlike grid-connected renewable electricity systems, which are heavily regulated and restricted to small capacity installations, privates grids, in comparison, have no limit. If you have a field beside your home or building, you could install a 1,000 MW personal private grid for your home or business. The best energy rated home in Europe is a private grid and has total energy independence.

Please see the video below showing a battery-based HONE renewable electricity system in operation.


Commercial options

Commercial projects are typically outside the packages’ scope and need survey information and design input in nearly all cases.

Industrial Options

Industrial projects are typically outside the packages’ scope and need survey information and design input in nearly all cases.

https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/HONE-HOUSE-1280x1280.jpg
https://honeworld.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/new-world-future.jpg

HONE - The Future

The future may not be obvious, but there are many things you need to know about the future, and they are all going on right now.
Boiler/Heating/Energy Pathways

There are many pathways to renewable low-cost energy that are available or will be available to you over the next few years.

They are not always clear. There are many agendas, and it is important to understand all to help you decipher which strategy is best.

All the solutions we support bring low carbon AND low cost (low bills). It’s is important that you achieve both these opportunities as far as we are concerned.

Government Pathways

Your Government has many issues to deal with, but the pathway to full decarbonisation of energy sources by 2050 has limited central government options.

Nuclear and/or Wind can be onshore or large scale off-shore, and these systems are backed up by base-loads such as gas, coal, oil and nuclear. The Government will heavily invest in the grid in allowing intermittent renewable energy, and you will buy that energy and pay for those investments through your future energy bills.

But you may ask, why isn’t your Government supporting everybody making their own energy for free?

Given that Governments currently yield up to 66% of the money spent on fossil fuel energy on taxation, duty & VAT (67% in the Netherlands is the highest), it would be catastrophic to Government finances to support such a strategy.

Only you can make that decision, and yes, you will leave the tax burden behind and start making free clean energy with smaller or even no bills.

European Commission Pathways

The European Commission has decided on ZE Zero Emissions in the current recast EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive). Dec 15th, 2021.

Europe policy limits building energy importation from Dec 31st, 2030 to 0 kWhrs/sqm primary energy for all new buildings, and all existing buildings must meet this standard by 2050.

The reality is a renewable energy future and making your own energy. This will be enforced by increasing carbon taxes very likely to become the future property tax.

Hydrogen Pathways

The pathway to Hydrogen is fascinating.

READ THE EU HYDROGEN STRATEGY HERE

This future of green hydrogen is literally around the corner. Green Hydrogen is made from water. The “H2” in H2O. The energy used to separate the H2 from the O is wind or solar-powered electricity. The result is a 100% sustainable energy source.

When you burn Hydrogen, you get water vapour as the output, completely clean. It can also be processed back into an electrolyser to make clean electricity on demand.

And if you think this future is far away, have a look at one of our Hydrogen cars driven by Ireland’s Minister of Environment, Energy & Climate Change, Denis Naughten, in 2019.

And if you have an oil or gas boiler, then forget about Heat Pumps; there are lots of zero-carbon low-cost options coming down the road, and you’ll be able to easily migrate to Green Gas (already here) or Hydrogen boilers that have zero emissions (nearly here). Heat Pumps will never be able to claim zero carbon or low cost.

And we must mention Worcester Bosch’s Hydrogen boiler, which is already being installed as of March 2021 in test sites.

The Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.

Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.

The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

The Future of Planet Earth

The future is obvious.

Will we continue to use fossil fuel as we have? Obviously not.

The future is clean, renewable energy. If you don’t adopt renewable energy in your buildings, you will be taxed and penalised heavily to force you to change. The earlier you change your lifestyle, the less it will cost you.

It won’t happen overnight, and we should NOT change fuel types like oil & gas straight away for change sake; we should reduce the consumption of these fuels first, reducing CO2 emissions by adding renewables to lower that consumption. Switching to a Heat Pump moves you onto the most polluting energy source we currently have, which is “electricity” (unless you have large nuclear power), albeit granted with the “promise” that your Government will eventually “green the grid” by 2050. (but you still pay for that expensive energy and the grid upgrades which will be required over the decades for adding intermittent renewable energy)

Achieving the lowest energy rating on your building will be achieved for the lowest investment by using the fuels with the lowest CO2, oil (kerosene) & gas (natural or LPG) coupled with renewables do that right now. Then you have a simple pathway to 100% CO2 living/business with Green Gas & Hydrogen for your current oil & gas heating sources, which are 100% CO2 free without expensive Heat Pumps or expensive Electricity to run them with forever electric bills.

Right now, you have two options, (1) follow government advice and switch to electric heating with a heat pump and keep having to buy 100% of your heating, hot water & electricity, including electricity for your new EV or (2) continue to reduce your energy consumption from existing energy systems with renewables suppressing that consumption and lowering you bills allowing you to make your own free heat, power & drive energy.

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH HONE

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Sign up for the HONE newsletter to receive all the new offers and new information updates. Simply type in your email address and we’ll include you in our next update.
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH HONE

Subscribe to
Our Newsletter

Sign up for the HONE newsletter to receive all the new offers and new information updates. Simply type in your email address and we’ll include you in our next update.
bt_bb_section_bottom_section_coverage_image