Alternative Fuel Source

Mirfield based M D Tyas Heating & Gas Services Ltd are seeing a definite shift in trend towards the use of microgeneration energy sources. National Energy Rating Assessor and Associate Member of the Institute of Heating & Environmental Engineers, director Michael Tyas explores other options available for the heating and hot water generation within the industry, alternative to the more conventional fossil fuels.

The effects of Global Warming have all been in the headlines and have stirred up a great deal of awareness and enthusiasm with people wanting to cut their carbon emissions (carbon foot print). When it comes to heating and hot water production either for domestic or commercial use one way is to consider two forms of renewable energy, namely Air and Ground Source Heat Pumps.

Although relatively new to the UK, Heat Pumps are a proven technology in Sweden where 97% of all new houses are built with heat pump heating systems.

Heat pumps do not need a flue as there are no local emissions. When coupled with a green electricity supply your heating, hot water and electricity demands create zero Carbon Dioxide emissions, making a real contribution to the reduction of green house gases.

Based on refrigeration technology heat pumps are extremely reliable with no regular maintenance required, they have a planned life span of 25 years with no loss of efficiency (some fossil fuel boilers can lose up to 2% efficiency each year of operation and have a useable life span of about 12 years).

So how do they work and how can they be applied. The earth, water and air absorb and store heat from the sun and the earth’s core. In the UK the average constant temperature of the earth at about 1.5M deep is around 5-8°C. It is also possible to extract usable heat from ambient air temperatures as low as -15°C.

Using similar technology as that employed by your fridge/freezer, heat pumps are electrically powered appliances consisting of a compressor, evaporator coil and heat exchanger. The appliances all have a C O P (coefficient of production) usually around 1:4 ratio. What that means is on average for every kilowatt of energy the appliance uses it hopes to generate 4 in 1 return making it a cost effective and viable solution for producing heating and hot water. Although a certain criteria for installation exists its rare when alternative solutions can not be applied.