Heat Pumps Today

24 Established air conditioning specialists have a key role to play in the heat pump roll-out. As the company celebrates its 20th anniversary, Darrel Birkett, MD of Cool Designs, reflects on the changes underway and how the industry can support clients and consultants in the journey to net zero. Heat pumps have received some unflattering coverage recently in the national press. However, I believe the technology will play a vital role in helping the UK meet its net zero targets, and that traditional air conditioning suppliers will be central to the roll-out. Domestic Criticism has focussed on the domestic sector, where gas boilers have o ered a reasonably e cient and, until now, cheap way of heating homes. The steep rise in energy costs has changed this calculation, while the start of volume production and greater competition between manufacturers is lowering the cost of buying and installing heat pumps. In the light of this, it seems likely that resistance to making the switch from gas to heat pumps for homes will begin to melt away as the economics become more favourable and pressure to decarbonise mounts. Commercial In the commercial sector, where we are focussed, the case for heat pumps is compelling. From our own experience, the savings to be made on larger commercial- scale heat pumps for buildings have been attractive for some time. With the recent hikes in energy costs, pay-back times have dramatically shortened. The discussion with clients now is not so much about whether to use heat pumps, but which systems are most e cient and reliable, and the best control strategy. From a thermodynamic perspective, the fundamental e ciency of heat pumps is impossible to ignore. Their ability to harvest low grade heat energy from the April | May 2023 N E T Z E R O Darrel Birkett, MD of Cool Designs Why heat pumps are key to meeting the decarbonisation challenge Networks Heat networks provide heating, hot water and / or cooling from a central source to homes, public sector buildings, shops, o ces, sport facilities, hospitals and universities. According to the recent figures, there are currently around 14,000 heat networks in the UK, providing heating, hot water and / or cooling to approximately 480,000 consumers. As they aggregate heating and cooling across an estate of buildings, such networks are uniquely able to unlock otherwise inaccessible large-scale renewable and recovered heat sources. Climate Change The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) estimates that around 18% of UK heating provision will need to come from such heat networks by 2050 if the country is to meet its carbon targets cost-e ectively. With their exceptional energy e ciency and ability to harness low grade heat sources, heat pumps have a huge part to play in the roll-out of this new generation of heat networks across the country. Supply The infrastructure to supply and support the heat pump roll-out is now rapidly being put in place. On the commercial side, traditional air conditioning specialists like ourselves are gearing up to meet demand, as a natural extension of our core expertise and knowledge. In our own case, air source heat pumps (air to water) have been part of the product mix since we were established 20 years ago. In the early days, heat pumps were chosen by clients who either had no gas supply to their building, or wanted to prioritise energy e ciency. environment and industry and upgrade it into a useful form to heat and cool buildings gives them a big advantage over alternatives. COP’s While the most e cient forms of traditional gas heating approach Coe cients of Performance (COPs) of less than one, modern heat pumps can achieve COPs many times this. As a result of the e ciency of the vapour compression cycle, heat pumps can generate several times more energy than they consume, far outstripping rival approaches. This, coupled with the fact they are proven technology, sets them apart among competing low carbon solutions, and means they will have a huge role to play in meeting the nation’s carbon reduction targets. As well as helping to reduce carbon emissions for individual buildings, heat pumps have an equally important part to play in reducing emissions through their use in distributed heat networks.