HEATING
Heat pumps heating homes on the rise
With the UK importing up to 44% of its oil and gas supplies from Europe, uncertainty as to how Brexit will aff ect imports, and the push from the UK government to reach renewable targets by 2030, the pressure is on to provide consumers with sustainable alternatives for the nation’s energy supply. Tony Lathey, Panasonic’s UK air-to-water pre-sales manager, puts forward the case for air source heat pumps.
C
urrently, mains gas is the most popular and aff ordable energy source for heating homes in the UK and is used in more than 21 million homes. Furthermore, many homes, particularly in rural areas, are off the mains gas network and require alternative energy sources. However, with climate change and government targets for the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 2030, and with consumers being more aware and renewable-conscious, many developers are under pressure to deliver effi cient and cost-eff ective alternatives, with air source heat pumps growing in popularity.
Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) are part of a new generation of eco-effi cient heating and cooling systems that use free energy taken from ambient air to heat and cool buildings. They can be both a cost-eff ective and energy effi cient way to ensure a renewable energy source is used to provide indoor comfort throughout the colder seasons. Furthermore, as up to 80% of the energy generated by the heat pump comes from the (free) air, with electricity making up the remaining 20%, not only is this an extremely cost-eff ective alternative to reducing energy bills, and environmentally friendly, but they are also easy to install thanks to their compact size. Manufacturers such as Panasonic provide a very wide range of units to suit all sizes or demands of properties. Many ASHP systems are also compatible with other renewable systems, such as solar panels, to further enhance a property’s energy saving performance.
With advances in new technology such as the development of smart controllers for heating and cooling systems, home owners are also now able
48 October 2018
to easily monitor energy use and the performance of their heating and cooling systems. Moreover, such controllers provide the ability to analyse data to improve effi ciency, reduce running times, increase the life time of the overall system and, furthermore, highlight any maintenance issues. To encourage the use of renewables, the UK government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which launched in 2014, off ers quarterly cash payments over seven years if an eligible renewable heating technology has been installed. The scheme currently covers England, Wales and Scotland. Recent amendments to the RHI scheme came into force in May 2018 whereby measuring and monitoring of renewable systems such as smart controllers is now included. The UK is not alone in setting up incentive schemes to encourage renewable technology. For example, in Italy, a tax reduction scheme in which heat pumps qualify has recently been extended for another year. The scheme also off ers a special discount on tariff s for heat pump energy. In Germany, since 2016, construction of new buildings will only be permitted if they use energy generated from renewable sources for space and water heating. This includes the use of solar, solar thermal, biomass, and effi cient heat pumps. Oil burners are completely banned as a means of heating new buildings.
The UK government has set a target to at least halve the energy use of new buildings in the UK by 2030, as one of the ‘Grand Challenge missions’ of its Industrial Strategy. The provision of heating and hot water for buildings makes up around 40% of the UK’s energy consumption and 20% of its greenhouse gas emissions. It will be necessary
to largely eliminate these emissions by around 2050 to meet the targets in the Climate Change Act, and to maintain the UK contribution to international action under the Paris Agreement. The programme is aimed at ensuring all new homes are highly energy effi cient and built with low-carbon heat by 2030. Heat pumps will form one of the solutions to ensure that the programme is a success.
Renewable solutions appeal to the homeowner, with air-to-water heat pump technology ensuring lower energy bills while at the same time providing the very best solution to deliver maximum comfort.
Panasonic Aquarea T
he Panasonic Aquarea air source heat pump range off ers a varied selection for all types of designs and demands, thus providing the end user with the correct units for their project, coupled with cloud control for the end user and cloud maintenance options for installers.
Panasonic’s Aquarea air to water range is designed to be robust, compact and quiet in operation. It has a low maintenance requirement which helps to keep annual running costs down and contributes to signifi cant annual savings when compared to other heat and hot water systems powered by fossil fuels.
Electricity is used to initially power the Aquarea system, however the advanced inverter technology is so energy effi cient and powerful that the achieved output is more than fi ve times the input power (1kW of electricity provides 5.29kW of hot water). As such, the unit has a COP rating of 5.29.
www.acr-news.com
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