Decarbonizing heat is one of, if not the biggest challenges we face in our journey to net zero. Most of the heat in UK homes and businesses is currently provided through fossil fuels, predominantly gas. Gas releases carbon emissions and other particles that are bad for air quality and bad for our environment. So, to get to net-zero we need to replace gas as our main source of heat.
The Government plans to phase out gas boilers in newly build homes from 2025, but with the vast majority of existing homes reliant on gas as the energy source to heat their homes, many householders fear a ‘gas boiler ban’ without a realistic and reliable alternative. This needs to be addressed.
The challenge
These grants will only cover a fraction of the 600,000 per year installation target set for 2028
To nudge the change in consumer purchasing behavior, a £5,000 grant was announced by the government in its heat and buildings strategy as part of a £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme to install low-carbon systems. But many commentators have pointed out that these grants will only cover a fraction of the 600,000 per year installation target set for 2028.
Both the Climate Change Committee and the UK Government have said that to reach net-zero we should be aiming to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028. That’s a big scaling up of the existing market, as to date between 30,000 to 40,000 pumps are installed each year.
Heat pump technology
Heat pumps have been highlighted by the government in their recent Heat and Buildings Strategy as a key solution to decarbonizing our economy. That is why, Kensa Group, Britain’s ground source heat pump experts, recognize the need to make sure people understand clearly how heat pumps work and how they can provide the comfort of current heating systems but operate more efficiently over their lifetime.
There are two types of heat pumps - air source and ground source, the latter of which use pipes to extract heat and waste heat from the ground to heat radiators, underfloor heating systems, cool and provide hot water. Ground source heat pumps provide the lowest capital cost heat decarbonization pathway with reduced running costs, reduced electrical generation and storage requirements, and importantly carbon savings.
Emissions from gas boilers
A ground source heat pump can be 300-400% efficient, delivering three to four times the amount of energy
Typical emissions from a gas boiler are 226g/kWh – this equates to up to 2.7 tonnes per year for an average house – the equivalent of driving 12,000 miles in an average family car. The emissions level of a ground source heat pump is 53g/kWh. Similarly, modern gas boilers can be around 90% efficient – a ground source heat pump can be 300-400% efficient, delivering three to four times the amount of energy they consume from electricity.
The pipework of underground infrastructure will last upwards of 100 years so a one-off investment will provide heat for generations to come. Yet the true benefits that heat pumps can bring won’t ever make the impact needed unless they are introduced at scale.
Moving to heat pumps
One option includes a solution that takes responsibility away from individuals to change their boilers to one that introduces a large-scale network of ground source heat pumps similar to the design and infrastructure of the current gas grid.
It’s a bold idea but one that manufacturers, the government, and the energy sector are exploring with one study predicting a move to networked heat pumps could save the UK an estimated £1bn a year to 2050.
The infrastructure
By shifting the emphasis from consumers getting rid of their boilers and installing individual infrastructure for ground source heat pumps on an ad-hoc house-by-house basis, a move to a pre-installation of utility-scale underground infrastructure (how the gas grid works today), it’s believed the 600,000 annual heat pump target could be met.
With the infrastructure funded, owned, and maintained by a utility supplier or local authority, for example, the cost is removed from consumers who can then easily and cheaply change to a heat pump as and when they’re ready and pay a standing charge similar to what they do for their existing gas supply.
Accelerate net-zero ambitions
Kensa Heat Pumps is giving people the chance to see first-hand how alternative heating could work
This approach has the promise to be a mass-market and mass scale solution which if adopted, could transform our low carbon landscape and accelerate net-zero ambitions. The challenge is how we make this a reality at scale because we need action to start soon, as time continues to run away from us.
Using the latest augmented reality technology, Kensa Heat Pumps is giving people the chance to see first-hand how this alternative heating could work in communities like theirs, as an entire street has been stripped of boilers and switched to heat pumps in a virtual makeover.
Bringing the future of heating to life
Using the real-life inner-city suburb of Green Street in Glasgow as a basis for the AR experience, Kensa’s virtual tour guide Doug sets out just how the ground source heat pumps and network can heat entire streets from houses to tower blocks, in a ground-breaking concept called ‘Welcome to Green Street’.
The virtual street map ‘Welcome to Green Street’, launched at COP26, proves how a whole systems approach to decarbonizing how we heat our homes can unlock benefits across communities, and complement and balance the electricity network as we come to rely more heavily on it with heating and electric vehicles.