Sustainable Heating

Over a third of the UK greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to heating our built environment. The climate change act 2008 requires the UK to reduce overall CO2 emissions by 80% before 2050.

This will prove to be an impossible task without the full decarbonisation of the UK heating systems.

In order to do this we, at CILS, work with our clients to survey, specify and install technologies to decarbonise and make their heating infrastructure sustainable and cost-efficient.

The choices include:

Air source heat pumps
Ground source heat pumps
Systems integration and smart controls
Estate-wide district heating networks

How do ground/air source heat pumps work?

Ground or air is used as a “source” of initial heat. This is then compressed and the heat generated from the source is used to heat the building.

With both systems, the objective is not to use fossil fuels to generate your heat; instead, using a smaller amount of electricity, allied to what you can extract from the environment, you achieve the same objective with less emissions.

Air Source Systems

An air source heat pump system sits outside the property, in a position that allows for a steady flow of air. The pumps draw air in, passing it over a heat exchanger.

The heat exchanger has a liquid refrigerant, which functions at temperatures far below 0c. The ambient temperature stored in the air heats up the liquid refrigerant in the heat exchanger.

The warmed up refrigerant is passed to a compressor where it is condensed, in the process raising its temperature further, to where it can be distributed around the central heating system.

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Ground Source Systems

A ground source heat pump system is connected to a series of pipes laid in the ground. The pipes are either laid horizontally in trenches or vertically in boreholes. A water and refrigerant mixture is circulated through the pipes absorbing the ambient heat from the ground.

At the end of the circuit it reaches a heat pump where a compressor raises the temperature to a usable level. At this stage it is passed through a heat exchanger from when it’s distributed to your hot water tank and radiators for hot water and heating.

An easy way of looking at this is – imagine a frozen water bottle that slowly melts by absorbing the temperature around it.

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How does it work?

Here is a short video highlighting how ground source pumps work

Benefits

Clean and combustion free, reducing your carbon footprint substantially
Excellent efficiencies
Can provide passive and active cooling; this saves time, money and space (there is only one system)
Long lifespan
Intelligent zone controls provide the ability to simultaneously heat one area whilst cooling another (commercial kitchen vs canteen)
Integration with smart systems to further enhance efficient energy usage

Costs
For both systems, the costs can be substantial. But it should be noted that in most instances there are subsidies and funding opportunities that negate the brunt of the capital required. This leaves you with a long term solution that makes you extremely energy efficient.

Installation

Ground source systems require the installation of the piping whilst air source pumps are installed externally, around the building to be heated.