STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
A broken record
The past is one of the best guides to the future. Tim Mitchell, sales director of Klima-Therm, examines recent reports that off er clues to what is to come within the realm of heat pumps and peeks over the horizon at the challenges the industry might face in the coming year.
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VAC technology is evolving almost at lightning speed, but it is not the only change the industry is witnessing. The political situation on the UK is also having a huge impact on how the HVAC sector develops and the uncertainty surrounding this combination makes projections of the sector’s future direction particularly tricky. As renowned management consultant Peter Drucker once put it: “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.” Nonetheless, forecasting is a crucial enterprise because it helps businesses make better decisions. As Drucker’s aphorism hints at, looking at the past is one of the best ways of forecasting what is to come. The recent past – particularly the last year – off ers valuable clues about upcoming challenges and opportunities for the HVAC sector. So, what has been happening in the last 12 months, especially in the crucial area of environmental concerns? The push for lower carbon HVAC solutions really
gathered pace over the course of 2023, driven by increasingly observable evidence of the climate emergency (fl oods, hurricanes, and so on) and the legislation that has resulted from this existential threat to the planet.
20 January 2024 •
www.acr-news.com
It is now generally recognised that human activities have been the main driver of climate change since the 1800s, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. This generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. The main greenhouse gas causing climate change is carbon dioxide and a big contributor of this is heat and hot water generation. According to the Energy Systems Catapult, which
provides technical, commercial and policy expertise in a bid to drive innovation across the whole energy system, a breakdown of UK carbon dioxide emissions from heating is: space heating (including a relatively small amount of cooling) – 17%; hot water – 4%; cooking – 2%, and industrial processes – 14%.
Heating and hot water generation in buildings create nearly a third (32%) of the total carbon emissions in the UK. It has been acknowledged for some time that this makes heating a prime target for decarbonisation. One of the key means of achieving this is to use electric
sources harnessing renewable energy (energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed) and one of the best means to harness this is via heat pumps which can be used to
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