Heat Pump Technology

With the UK being set a legally binding target to reduce green house emissions by 80% by the year 2050 low carbon technologies will need to be implemented into commercial and residential dwellings to meet this target. Reports show that Commercial and industrial buildings account for 18% of the countries CO2 emissions and with around 27% from residential dwellings which makes a total of 45% of CO2 emissions just from buildings. To lower this percentage low carbon and renewable technologies have been introduced with various government aided grant incentives attached to increase the uptake of such technologies.

One technology which has been used for many years especially in Northern Europe like countries like Sweden and Denmark are heat pumps, these have replaced the existing electric/gas fired boilers. Heat pumps can come in many guises. But the most popular type of system for applications in the UK are:

• GSHPs “Ground Source Heat Pumps”
• ASHP’s “Air Source Heat Pumps”

 

Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs)

Ground source heat pumps utilise the ambient ground temperature of the earth as a heat source from the installation of pipework with a heat transfer liquid into the ground via a vertical borehole or horizontal ground loop installation which absorbs the heat, this is then transferred into the heat pump unit where it meets a refrigerant which turns this heat into a gas by high temperature/pressure compression then through a heat exchanger out to either a central heating system and additional DHW “Domestic Hot Water” tanks. Heat pumps are considered to be more efficient then original boilers due to the small amount of electricity required to power the unit.

Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

Air source heat pumps work on the same premise as GSHP’s but instead of using the ground as a heat collection method they extract the outside air temperature for heat transfer purposes like a domestic fridge extracts the heat from its inside through the refrigeration process.

If you would like to learn more about heat pump technology and are considering replacing your existing boiler or would like to install a new efficient heating system into a new build. Please do not hesitate to contact Eco Elite to discuss your requirements further.

We can provide a quotation for supply/design and installation along with advice for the appropriate system for your property(s) to maximise cost savings and energy efficiency in this current economic climate.

For more information please contact Eco Elite.