AIR CONDITIONING
most manufacturers now having a domestic and commercial range. With the introduction of the Climate Change Act 2008 the government has committed to reducing the UK’s greenhouse gases by a minimum of 80% of 1990 level and more recently revised this target down to net zero emissions by 2050. With homes accounting for estimated 14% of the UK’s carbon total emissions its long been a target for reduction. Recently, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson
announced a green strategy with a target of replacing gas boilers with heat pumps from 30,000 being installed last year to 600,000 a year by 2028. Further government announcements such as the ban on gas and oil fossil fuel boiler in new build from 2025 now brought forward to 2024 again reinforce the governments heating strategy.
At this predicted rate of growth it will see the air to water market heat pump market worth a conservative £3 billion pounds per year by 2028 bearing on mind the whole HVAC market is currently worth an estimated £750m this will be a huge market in the future. In order to help this transition from fossil fuel boilers to heat pumps, providing space and water heating both domestically and commercially, the government is continuing support with the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) – although only
until the end of March for new non-domestic applications. This off ers existing home owners and building owners quarterly tariff payments for seven years on applicable domestic retrofi t heat pump installations and commercially heat pump installations payments over 20 years. The RHI is managed by Ofgem (
bit.ly/3pwB4Rf). For many of us that often travel to London,
Manchester and Birmingham it may come as no surprise that the air quality in the UK is offi cially bad. According to the World Health Organisation the UK often breaches air quality standards in and around major cities mainly due to nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone coming from a variety of sources such as diesel and petrol vehicles, factories and power stations. The eff ects of poor air quality over a period of time are signifi cant on the human body where it tends to eff ect people with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The British Heart Foundation recently stated that around 11,000 deaths from heart and circulatory diseases are attributable to poor air pollution each year in the UK.
The focus for the HVAC industry is indoor air quality especially as we are now spending more than 95% of our time indoors. Indoor air quality is eff ected by the impact of printers, photo copiers, solvents, paints cleaning products
and carpets, which contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) that emit gas over a long period of time. In order to improve indoor air quality it is important to deliver clean fresh air to create a pleasant environment for the building occupants. As there are several methods of introducing clean fresh air it is important to understand how this can aff ect other aspects of the building such as increasing the heating or air conditioning loads.
The preferred method used by many consultants and installers is the use of mechanical heat recovery ventilators MHRV as they tend to be supplied by air conditioning manufacturers and are easily integrated into a whole HVAC design. This method reduces the eff ect of outdoor air temperature on the heating and cooling loads as it recovers this heat energy from the waste exhaust air and transfers it in the fresh air coming in to the space. MHRV are also used homes, schools, theatres, collages and hospitals where there a high demand for fresh air without causing draughts or increasing noise levels.
Good ventilation design and equipment is key to providing a good working environment, it is also good to remember that that all ventilations systems need regular maintenance in order to do so consistently!
www.acr-news.com
February 2021 29
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