A Baxi Ecogen micro-combined heat and power unit is being trialled by Scottish Gas and Link Housing Association.

The pair have teamed up and will trial the micro-combined heat and power unit, one of the first of its kind to be installed in Scotland, in the home of a Link tenant. The Baxi Ecogen delivers renewable electricity and heat by utilising bio-natural gas.

One of the main advantages with such a unit is that the carbon emissions are reduced by generating electricity at the point of use – avoiding the system losses associated with central power production. And while it burns gas, the unit also generates electricity, making it a potentially very cost effective way of heating and providing energy in the home. This is why there is a great hope that equipment like this will help reduce fuel poverty.

The brainchild of Scottish Gas, it was they who approached Link and asked if a suitable home could be found to run the tests. And both they and Link are currently monitoring the results with keen anticipation that cost savings will be made for the user.

Willie Clemie, Technical Service Manager with Link Housing said:
“We were pleased to extend our existing relationship with Scottish Gas by taking part in this innovative trial project. In line with our Affordable Warmth Strategy we are looking forward to finding out more about the unit’s potential to bring cost saving benefits to tenants and also how it may help to reduce the impact of fuel poverty.”

Deborah Skelton Business Development manager for Scottish Gas, Contract Partnerships, said:
“This is the first Baxi Ecogen micro-CHP boiler to be installed in Scotland and we are very pleased to be a part of this project with Link Housing Association.

“Baxi Ecogen is a fully automatic gas fired wall mounted condensing heat only boiler which will produce up to 1kW of electricity for the tenant. The electricity excess to requirements at the time of production will be fed back into the national grid which will have good cost savings for the tenant as well as saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Comments from the Government’s new Chief Scientific Advisor have not gone down well with top boiler manufacturer Worcester.

They were dismayed by Professor’s David Mackay’s first public comments, on his first day in his new job as chief scientific adviser at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which were designed to set out his vision for Britain’s energy future which centre on a significant increase in nuclear power capacity.

Worcester saw the advisor’s words as a: “…a thinly veiled attack on the use of gas in domestic heating.”

They were particularly irked at the Professor’s words which said:
“Setting fire to chemicals like gas should be made a thermodynamic crime. If people want heat they should be forced to get it from heat pumps. That would be a sensible piece of legislation.”

Neil Schofield, head of sustainable development at Worcester, Bosch Group, said:
“Professor Mackay’s comments set out a vision for Britain’s energy future based upon electricity, but it does not reflect the reality on the ground that domestic heat is predominantly gas powered in the UK. The logistics of replacing all gas-fired boilers with heat pumps, even in the medium term, would be an enormous undertaking significantly dwarfing the conversion from town gas to natural gas in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Professor Mackay has issued a new series of far flung objectives, bearing in mind that nuclear technology will take at least 20-30 years to come on stream, with no thought to the short term, the next 10 years. There is still no clear roadmap for either consumers or the heating industry of how we are going to meet the near term objectives.”
“Professor Mackay talks of people being forced to install heat pumps, but gives no indication of how consumers will be helped with the capital cost or what they should do if heat pump technology is not suitable for their own home. Our experience at Worcester, Bosch Group is that heat pump technology is not suitable for all applications. I would like to ask Professor Mackay how he heats his own house.”

Schofield makes it clear that he believes that the Professor’s comments are a further example of the Government and its advisers contradicting themselves in key policy areas.

He went on to say:
“On the one hand the Government is trying to encourage the uptake of renewable technologies with its proposals for the Feed-in Tariff for the Renewable Heat Incentive, but it is providing no upfront capital help for consumers to install the equipment and is now seriously considering taxing any monies generated. This will inevitably take away a major incentive for renewable technologies and make the Feed-in Tariff very unattractive to consumers.”

No doubt this rift between one of the country’s largest gas boiler manufacturers and a key Government advisor will play out over a long period of time.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are keen to see more waste used as a source for low-carbon heat.

The DECC is working on a new Heat and Energy Saving Strategy, which has been involved in an initial consultative period, and should be released in a more detailed version in the autumn. This will follow the government’s Renewable Energy Strategy which outlines the U.K.’s plan to reach its 15% renewable energy target by 2020.

The government is trying to marry the too much waste problem, with too little correct heat problem.

A number of solutions have been put forward, with one of the main contenders being the manufacture of biogas from waste, which is in turn cleaned and converted into biomethane, which can then be fed into the national gas grid. This method is very appealing to experts, as 90% of the country’s current domestic heating is provided by natural gas.

Experts explain that biogas has to be cleaned, because it consists of 65% methane and 35% carbon dioxide. When cleaned up into biomethance, it becomes about 90% methane, together the ethane and various other contaminants.

Cleaning biogas is regularly done in mainland Europe. The carbon dioxide has to be removed, as well as the hydrogen sulphide containments. The process is said to be no more complicated than cleaning natural gas from the North Sea before it enters the national grid.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Geothermal heating is a new greener way to heat your home. It takes advantage of the earth’s constant temperature below the frost line and harnesses the heat to use in your house, office or commercial building. Experts say that a full geothermal heating system can save you up to 40% on your energy bills while decreasing your household emissions dramatically. On the surface it sounds like the best thing since electricity but how does it really work and are the benefits worth the rather large investment?

The Principles Behind Geothermal Heating Systems

The idea behind this great new energy source involves harnessing the Earth’s heat and using it to warm your house. This is done by drilling a series of boreholes close to your property and inserting looped pipes filled with a conductive fluid, such as water with added antifreeze. The average property needs 2 or 3 boreholes to provide adequate geothermal energy and they need to be between 150-300ft deep to be effective! Once the looped pipes are in place, they can then be linked up with a Ground Source Heat Pump which circulates the fluid around the pipe. As it circulates, the fluid absorbs the earth’s heat, which is a constant 57 degrees Fahrenheit below the frost level, and brings it to the surface where it is extracted by a heat exchanger. From here the heat goes to each of the rooms in the house via a suitable heating system.

Obviously this description is a simplification but it gives the general idea behind the process. Once in the house, the heat is distributed to where it is needed by means of individual heat pumps in each room. So for example, if you want more heat in a specific room then you simply turn up the thermostat and more heat is pumped from the Ground Source Heat Pump into the room.

The Benefits of Geothermal Heating

As already mentioned, geothermal heating systems can reduce your heating costs by up to 40% however the average household sees savings of around 25%. Also, once installed the system virtually cares for itself and problems are very rarely encountered. You can vary the amount of heat released into each individual room and easily turn rooms off when not in use. In the warmer months, the main ground pump can be used in reverse so that it pumps heat out of the house and back into the ground which means that it effectively acts as a cooling system for the entire home.

The Downside

Unfortunately there is always a downside with new concepts and geothermal heating is no exception. The entire heating system is required to get the best from this type of energy source and with a starting price of around £6000 it doesn’t come cheap. Based on the average annual savings that you could attain, it would still take you a very long time to recoup your investment however if money is no object then this is definitely one of the better renewable energy sources to go for.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock