Thanks for highlighting this! I agree with your conclusion. A good friend of mine is a sustainable energy manager for a large housing association. He is being strangled by bureaucracy and is lacking support from his senior leadership in his attempts to decarbonise the thousands of properties they oversee. At every turn, hundreds of gas boilers are still being reinstalled and dont even get him started on district heating solutions 😢 ASHP are the solution right now and we need to continue to speak up and make our voices heard to effect change at a better pace!
Yeah I think the confusion that has been put into the conversation, sometimes with best intentions, sometimes not, is really slowing down progress. We need leaders in every sphere to be really clear on what the plan is. Heat networks will definitely play a role. But I could imagine communities waiting for a heat network for the next 10 years and if never coming along. Housing associations could really lead on quality heat pump installations and help reduce costs for their tenants if backed with funding…! We’ll get there, I hope!
What a great idea! Eventually, these larger district-sized schemes will be part of the full picture. The Gateshead Mine Water Heat Scheme is already up and running, more or less heating the Tyne South Bank stretch between the Tyne Bridge and the Baltic (Gateshead College, the Glasshouse, the Baltic itself, various offices, a few hundred homes, etc.) and is looking to expand, so it's not all downs for this type of GSHP! Handling contaminated mine water might be problematic in the open-loop form mentioned, though, actually pumping the water from within the mine workings. What about sinking a closed-loop heat exchange system down the old mine shafts? I realise that's not quite at point of use, since old mine heads are not conveniently placed... Mind you, ASHPs in the form of AC (especially VRVs) have been used for decades - Daikin, Hitachi, etc. offered very quick and flexible ways to shift heat in or out. My engineering experience from about 35 years back included TSB branch refurbishment that relied on these air-to-air cassette units, connected to the outside by refrigerant pipework running along electrical cable trays for support. The only branch that I worked on which needed something different was TSB Preston, a traditional heavyweight regional central bank building with vaults, stone walls, offices and other features not found in the smaller, more open-plan high street branches that are now mostly gone. It's not new tech by any means, but has been progressively more refined and integrated over the years, hand-in-hand with more efficient buildings.
as kids, we swam in the pit pond and it was warm even in winter (during winter steam came off the pipe from the mine) when I worked in the pits the deeper you go the warmer it gets.
Thanks for highlighting this! I agree with your conclusion.
A good friend of mine is a sustainable energy manager for a large housing association. He is being strangled by bureaucracy and is lacking support from his senior leadership in his attempts to decarbonise the thousands of properties they oversee.
At every turn, hundreds of gas boilers are still being reinstalled and dont even get him started on district heating solutions 😢
ASHP are the solution right now and we need to continue to speak up and make our voices heard to effect change at a better pace!
Yeah I think the confusion that has been put into the conversation, sometimes with best intentions, sometimes not, is really slowing down progress. We need leaders in every sphere to be really clear on what the plan is.
Heat networks will definitely play a role. But I could imagine communities waiting for a heat network for the next 10 years and if never coming along.
Housing associations could really lead on quality heat pump installations and help reduce costs for their tenants if backed with funding…!
We’ll get there, I hope!
What a great idea! Eventually, these larger district-sized schemes will be part of the full picture. The Gateshead Mine Water Heat Scheme is already up and running, more or less heating the Tyne South Bank stretch between the Tyne Bridge and the Baltic (Gateshead College, the Glasshouse, the Baltic itself, various offices, a few hundred homes, etc.) and is looking to expand, so it's not all downs for this type of GSHP!
Handling contaminated mine water might be problematic in the open-loop form mentioned, though, actually pumping the water from within the mine workings. What about sinking a closed-loop heat exchange system down the old mine shafts? I realise that's not quite at point of use, since old mine heads are not conveniently placed...
Mind you, ASHPs in the form of AC (especially VRVs) have been used for decades - Daikin, Hitachi, etc. offered very quick and flexible ways to shift heat in or out. My engineering experience from about 35 years back included TSB branch refurbishment that relied on these air-to-air cassette units, connected to the outside by refrigerant pipework running along electrical cable trays for support. The only branch that I worked on which needed something different was TSB Preston, a traditional heavyweight regional central bank building with vaults, stone walls, offices and other features not found in the smaller, more open-plan high street branches that are now mostly gone. It's not new tech by any means, but has been progressively more refined and integrated over the years, hand-in-hand with more efficient buildings.
as kids, we swam in the pit pond and it was warm even in winter (during winter steam came off the pipe from the mine) when I worked in the pits the deeper you go the warmer it gets.
I agree, decarbonize now, and be clear that air source heat pumps are the available technology that already works and is deployable now.
Cheers John!
Good looking as well as logical,what more do you want 😉
I’m not sure how to respond to that one, but thanks I guess!!