Sustainagility by Dixon Patrick;Gorecki Johan;

Author:Dixon, Patrick;Gorecki, Johan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kogan Page, Limited

Heat pumps could reduce global energy use by 2 per cent by 2030 if installed in 1 per cent of homes and offices a year, in developed nations.

You can pump heat or cold from 1–2 metres underground more cheaply than burning gas, coal or oil or using traditional air conditioners. Fuel bills can be halved in many cases. This is quite different from geothermal energy, where heat is being tapped from deep into the earth’s crust (see pages 36–37).

Up to 70 per cent of new homes in some parts of Sweden, 45 per cent in New Zealand and 30 per cent in Switzerland are already heated by heat pumps. The UK government is hoping for around 500,000 systems to be installed in five years.

Heat pumps work by using the same process as in a fridge or freezer. A compressor pumps gas from one side of the system to the other. Where the gas pressure is low, temperature falls, and where the gas pressure is high, temperature is high. In a freezer, you can feel the heat of the compressed gas by touching the warm radiator at the back.

Heat pumps in homes do the same thing on a larger scale. In winter, the compressed gas is used to heat radiators, while the cooled gas is underground in pipes that are being gradually re-warmed by the surrounding earth or rock. In summer, the pump can be reversed, so that the pipes underground get hot, and are cooled down by the earth and rock around them, while the pipes inside the house get very cold. Heat pumps save the greatest costs when they are being used to replace oil-fired central heating boilers, but also save money compared to gas.

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