NEWS
Star study highlights data gaps in industrial heat use
A
new survey from Star Refrigeration suggests that UK manufacturers could unlock substantial effi ciency gains through heat
pumps and heat recovery, but a lack of basic data on heat use continues to impede progress. The company’s Industrial Heat Pump Research
Survey, which gathered responses from around 100 major sites across sectors including food and drink, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, found that most manufacturers cannot state how much heat they use or how effi ciently their systems operate. Fewer than a quarter of respondents were able to provide both annual heating energy consumption and the size of their heating plant, and among those that could, average utilisation stood at 24%, pointing to widespread over-sizing and underperformance. The fi ndings underline the continued dominance of fossil fuels in industrial heat. Respondents reported that roughly two-thirds of their heat demand is met by gas, and more than half said their heating systems were over two decades old.
Only a minority had installed heat sub-metering, limiting their ability to track consumption or identify opportunities for optimisation. Prof. Pearson, Group Sustainable Development
Director at Star Refrigeration, said the results expose a fundamental barrier to decarbonisation. He noted that companies “do not have the data they need to make informed decisions,” adding that the absence of clear heat use information makes it diffi cult to build credible investment cases for renewable technologies. The survey indicates that many manufacturers
already operate at temperatures compatible with modern industrial heat pumps. Hot water demands between 50°C and 70°C were common, and nearly half of respondents reported stepping steam down to hot water for processes, an approach that can mask ineffi ciencies but also signals potential for heat recovery or hybrid systems. However, identifying where such measures are viable depends on detailed visibility of heat fl ows and demand patterns.
Pearson said the gap between engineering capability and operational understanding remains a central challenge. He argued that the UK has the technical expertise to deploy heat pumps and recovery systems at scale, but that progress depends on knowing “where and how energy is used across business operations.” The survey also suggests that better data
correlates with a stronger interest in optimisation. Organisations with heat sub-metering in place were far more likely to report plans to pursue energy effi ciency and heat recovery measures.
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