GREEN MATTERS
Heat pumps for cooling?
With 2024 set to be another record-breaking year for extreme weather across many parts of the world, homeowners in the UK will be eager to address how to stay cool during the increasingly warmer summer months. Julien Soulet, vice president and general manager, Fluorine Products EMEA, Honeywell Advanced Materials explains.
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The Met Offi ce reported that 2020, 2022 and 2023 were among the fi ve warmest years on record and temperatures exceeded 40C for the fi rst time in 2022. With many homes in the region designed to retain heat, safe and sustainable cooling options must be considered. Despite their name, heat pumps often off er signifi cant cooling benefi ts over traditional temperature control systems. By 2050, studies estimate that up to 32% of English households may adopt air conditioning, however, there are signifi cant challenges homeowners could face. The majority of the UK’s housing stock was constructed
before air conditioning was invented. In fact, government fi gures report that one in six homes in England (15%) were built before 1900 so those looking to adopt air conditioning will have to invest in system installation. Additionally, the cost associated with daily use of these systems to stay cool at home can be upwards of 43p. There are also environmental concerns associated with air conditioning. Researchers have pointed out that the increasing need to cool air is both a cause and eff ect of climate change. Calculations show that air conditioning is
responsible for the equivalent of 1,950 million tonnes of CO2 released annually, which is nearly 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
So, although UK summers are getting hotter, it may be
diffi cult to justify the environmental concerns, expense and disruption of installing air conditioning… especially as home cooling needs may only last a few weeks per year. One viable solution that is available today as an alternative to air conditioning is a heat pump. Generous installation incentives are being off ered to homeowners with the UK government identifying them as crucial technology to help cut carbon emissions from heating. Despite being called a ‘heat pump’, the technology can
provide year-round temperature regulation, warming homes and buildings in the winter, and cooling them in the
14 June 2024 •
www.acr-news.com
hot summer months. Much like refrigerators, they transfer heat rather than generate it… so in the summer hot air is pumped out of your house and released outdoors. In the winter, they convert energy from the air, ground, water, or waste heat sources for use indoors. Heat pumps are energy effi cient as they pump out more cool and warm air by volume than the energy it takes to run them. An overlooked aspect of a heat pump’s energy effi ciency for the everyday consumer is the refrigerant it runs on. Low- global-warming potential (GWP), hydrofl uoroolefi n (HFO) refrigerants are a crucial part of heat pump technology and the driving force behind the system’s energy effi ciency, cost and sustainability.
...it was recently announced that German engineering company, Bosch Home Comfort, will be incorporating Honeywell’s low-GWP Solstice 454B refrigerant in its newest line of heat pumps.
Unlike market alternatives, HFO refrigerants off er solutions across most heat pump applications, property types and system sizes – from residential and district heating, to industrial and commercial. HFOs also have a lower total cost of ownership, and are more safe compared to alternative non-fl uorinated industrial refrigerants – such as those relying on propane or ammonia – especially for use in densely urbanised areas or buildings. Education and training A World Economic Forum report found that heat pumps could help reduce global CO2
emissions by 500 million tonnes by 2030 due to their effi cient year-round heating Download the ACR News app today
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