Use heat pump technology to extract the heat energy stored in the ground, water or the air and apply it to your domestic or industrial heating and cooling needs.
Heat pumps are designed to extract heat energy from a low
temperature source and deliver it at a higher, more useful Figure 1: Vapour compression heat pump operating principle temperature. Some heat pumps reverse this flow of heat energy, Cool, low pressure refrigerant gas is compressed as in the case of refrigerators and air conditioning systems. emerging at a higher temperature and pressure
Until now, plumbers, builders and architects in the UK have not
utilised heat pump technology due to the availability of cheap conventional heating systems run on gas or other fossil fuels. The Evaporator Condenser future of these fuels is uncertain, however, and as concern about climate change also grows the option of using heat pumps is
SOURCE becoming feasible and grants are available for some installations.
SINK If you are looking to install a heat pump, the economic and Compressor environmental costs should be considered carefully. It might be the case that improving your insulation for better heat conservation will meet your heating needs more immediately. Expansion valve Refrigerant Common types of heat pump changes The reversible air conditioner (an air-to-air system which pumps from liquid to gas, Hot refrigerant cool or warm air) is the most common type of heat pump globally. taking in gas condenses Despite this wide use, air systems are not very efficient, as it is heat energy Refrigerant liquid at high to liquid and cooling pressure expands, lowering transfering heat difficult to transfer heat energy using ambient air as a medium. temperature and pressure to the heat sink source The best source of heat energy is water, e.g. a river or stream, or the ground. Some heat pump applications can even use man- made sources of heat, such as domestic or industrial waste. centre. Pipes placed in trenches at a depth of around 2 metres, or in a borehole up to 100 metres deep, extract heat energy from the The most common heat pump in the UK is the fridge. Heat is ground for use in domestic or industrial situations. extracted from the icebox and ejected through the grill at the back leaving the inside of the fridge cool and the air at the back warm. How do they work? In this type of system the heat energy is not required for warmth But you might ask: how do heat pumps extract heat energy and is expelled as waste. from a source that is cold? Confusion about this stems from our perception of heat rather than the heat pump technology itself: Another very common type of heat pump is the ground source humans are very sensitive to changes in body temperature and unit, e.g. a floor standing unit (like a boiler) with connections it takes only a slight change in outside temperature to make us running in from pipes in the ground and water connections feel uncomfortable. But even when it is freezing (0°C), relative to running out to radiators or underfloor heating. Ground source Absolute Zero (-273°C) it is still warm and heat energy is available systems like this are often called ‘geothermal’, though the heat for extraction. extracted is actually from the Earth’s surface rather than its In the UK, a new heat pump installation is likely to consist of a Why choose a heat pump? ground source heat pump linked to radiators or underfloor space • Heat pumps can be used for space heating, hot water heaters (known as the heat sink, or emitter). The heat pump heating or air conditioning. works by reversing the energy transfer that occurs naturally, • An electrical heat pump might need just 1 unit of energy i.e. heat naturally flows from warm to cool places. A system to turn 2 units of heat from the surroundings into 3 units of of pipes buried in the ground extracts the heat energy in the useful heat. surrounding mass of earth and transfers it to a refrigerant. The • If the fuel for a conventional boiler were to be used to drive a refrigerant is passed through the compressor of the heat pump to heat pump about 35-50% less would be needed. raise its temperature further for use in radiators and so on. The • A good heat pump installation will consume less primary compressor is usually powered by an electrical input. (Figure 1.) energy than conventional heating systems, which means So, are heat pumps a form of renewable energy? While heat fewer carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and pumps do extract renewable heat energy from natural sources, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. an electric power source is required which is likely to be produced • Heat pumps are a tried and tested technology – though they from non-renewable sources. The electrical input constitutes are not yet common in the UK, heat pumps are used in many about 25% of the total energy input, which means heat pumps established energy systems in countries like Germany. are not renewable in the same way as wind, solar or hydro – the Source: International Energy Agency Heat Pump Centre, Sweden 100% renewables.
