Kelda are the pioneers of high-efficiency Air-Powered showers that reduce carbon emissions by using around 50% less water and energy.

A recent government report (written by SAPIF) has shown that in an average house hot water use accounts for 36% of the total energy demand. According to the Energy Savings Trust (EST) 50% of generated domestic hot water is attributed to showering – making showers alone responsible for 18% of the overall energy use.

With energy requirements in Part L being progressively tightened housebuilders are under increasing pressure to build homes that produce less carbon emissions. In 2022 the target was 31% less than previously, but the Future Homes Standard goes one step further and aims to ensure that new homes built from 2025 will produce 75-80% less carbon.

In future homes hot water will represent a much larger proportion of regulated energy as building fabric standards invariably tighten. This comes at a time when water bills are subject to the biggest increase in almost 20 years.

Therefore, specifying Kelda’s high-efficiency showers can not only provide significant savings in water and energy consumption, operational costs, and carbon emissions, but also offer a cost-effective solution to improve building efficiency and achieve net-zero.

Kelda’s Air-Powered shower is an innovative shower system that utilises a high-velocity air stream to atomise water into large droplets for the purpose of creating an acceptable shower experience using less water and energy.

Conventional ‘aerating’ showers use the Venturi principle to restrict flow and draw atmospheric air into the water through a small hole in the shower head. Unlike a typical mixer shower, the Air-Powered shower incorporates a microprocessor and an electrically powered fan which controls the delivery of water and air to the shower head. Within the shower head, water is injected into a high-velocity air stream where it is broken up into hundreds of droplets that are 250% bigger than can be found in a conventional shower.

These larger droplets increase the force per droplet, making less water feel like more, and so allowing a reduction in water flow without impacting the showering experience. When used in place of a conventional shower, or conventional aerating shower head, the shower should use less water and thereby less energy to heat the water.

Using Air-Powered technology allows Kelda to typically reduce mass water flow by 50%, reducing energy use and carbon emissions by around the same. In addition to this, using less hot water can help to reduce the risk of running out of hot water during a high-demand period, or reduce the required hot water cylinder volume – which is particularly relevant in smaller dwellings, where space is a premium.