HEATING, VENTILATION & SERVICES 69


RADIATING ‘CARBON INTENSITY’ BENEFITS


Joanna Crown of WMS Underfl oor Heating assesses the ‘carbon intensity’ of underfl oor heating versus traditional radiator systems and explains why radiant technology ticks the boxes when it comes to embodied carbon reduction.


T


here are many factors to consider when assessing the carbon intensity of a home heating system – from meeting the demands of new build regulations, to maimising effi ciency and ensuring all the technologies specifi ed work in harmony.


CARBON INTENSITY COMPARISON Following the low water temperature update to the Building Regulations and Part L (June 2022), the housebuilding industry is going through some huge changes and challenges.


Aside from meeting the needs of regulations, assessing the embodied carbon of a heating system requires various factors to be considered, from product lifecycle, material volume and the carbon impact to manufacture each product. When taking these factors into account, underfl oor heating systems have been shown to be 93% less carbon intensive than traditional steel radiators. This dramatic statistic was calculated using a Government report relating to the carbon impact of manufacturing building materials, which states that the manufacture of iron and steel products have a 7.1 MTCO2


dioxide equivalent), compared with plastic products, which have a 3 MTCO2


e (metric tons of carbon e


– 58% less than iron and steel. It’s clear to see that plastic underfl oor heating pipe is signifi cantly better from a carbon point of view to produce when compared with steel and the benefi ts don’t stop there.


MATERIAL VOLUME IN THE SPOTLIGHT When calculating and comparing material volume, in a house with 10 rooms over two fl oors, a standard steel radiator system would require 222.6


kg of material, whereas the equivalent underfl oor heating system would reuire 42% less material (129.4 kg). However, to meet the recently introduced standards for new builds, low fl ow temperature radiators will need to be much larger than traditional products. So, as well as taking up more wall space and creating interior layout headaches, the volume of material required for these larger steel radiators would be signifi cantly more than their traditional counterparts, creating a stark contrast to the minimal volume of material reuired to complete an underfl oor heating system.


PRODUCT LIFECYCLES


Considering the carbon impact of property means not only looking at products selected for the initial build itself, but also over the lifetime of the building. Traditional radiators have a relatively short lifecycle and are only expected to last for around 25 years. So, as well as being less effi cient than underfl oor heating when insitu  once decommissioned, they become a waste product in a relatively short space of time. While they can be recycled, the carbon produced during the recycling process is extremely high.


AS UNDERFLOOR HEATING IS BY NATURE A LOW TEMPERATURE SYSTEM, IT PAIRS PERFECTLY WITH HEAT PUMPS WHICH DELIVER THE MOST EFFICIENT (COP) LEVEL WHEN RUNNING AT 35-45°C


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