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Scots make renewable energy easier
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 23rd February 2009 at 11:06 am
The Scottish Government has made it easier for people to get renewable energy for their home following a consultation on planning reform. The aim of the consultation was to increase renewable energy generation and cut carbon emissions. The result is that anyone living in Scotland will be able to ins…
Posted in: General, Biomass, Heat pumps, Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water
Five energy sources for heat pumps
Posted by John Barker-Brown on 10th May 2010 at 10:02 am
A number of energy sources can be used as the heat source for heating buildings. Most commonly, heat pumps draw heat from the air or from the ground. The heat drawn from the ground is, in most cases, stored solar heat, and should not be confused with geothermal heat, though the latter wil…
Posted in: Heat pumps
Heat pumps: 10 things a good installer should ask
Posted by John Barker-Brown on 24th May 2010 at 12:20 pm
Finding an installer for a renewable energy technology should be a straight forward exercise. With all the certification an installer has to meet, such as the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), to enable a client to access grants, the installer has to know what they are talking about and be…
Posted in: Heat pumps
Renewable Heat Incentive: yes please, but with changes
Posted by John Barker-Brown on 9th July 2010 at 11:16 am
First let's get something straight. I think the renewable heat incentive (RHI) is a good idea. Rewarding people for their contribution to reducing carbon emissions is great and will stimulate the market. However, in its current form the RHI may not reduce emissions, and due to lack of Government cla…
Posted in: Biomass, Heat pumps, Solar heat & hot water
Find out what an energy efficient home really looks like
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 7th September 2010 at 2:22 pm
SuperHome owners across the country are throwing open their doors this month to inspire others to reduce the energy needed to run their house. These aren't high tech new builds, but old homes, that the owners have renovated to reduce carbon emissions by at least 60%. Convinced that seeing is beli…
Posted in: Energy efficiency
Heat pumps: field trials reveal good and bad installations
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 13th September 2010 at 9:17 am
The good news is that heat pumps can operate well in the UK, as long as they are well-designed and installed, and the customer understands how to use the controls. The bad news is that the Energy Saving Trust’s (EST) field trial of 83 heat pumps found that isn’t always the case. System effici…
Posted in: Heat pumps
An introduction to air source heat pumps
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 12th November 2010 at 11:57 am
I thought I would start my series of blogs on Air Source Heat Pumps with an explanation of how a heat pump works and how in particular how a Air Source Heat Pump works. If you want to look at the diagram alongside the text, double click on it to enlarge it. To start, just imagin…
Posted in: Heat pumps
When to consider using an air source heat pump
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 8th December 2010 at 2:07 pm
Air source heat pumps can be used in many applications for heating water, be it domestic (tap) water or the water used in for space heating. The first part of the decision process of whether I should consider using an air source heat pump to heat my house starts with – "why I am doi…
Posted in: Heat pumps
Get the best out of your air source heat pump in sub-zero temperatures
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 4th January 2011 at 9:46 am
With temperatures more associated with Scandinavia than the UK, 2010 tested heating systems of all sorts in the UK, gas boilers and air source heat pumps included! Here are some of the problems have people reported over the past year and how can we avoid them being repeated as we go into 2011. …
Posted in: Heat pumps
Can you use radiators with an air source heat pump?
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 24th January 2011 at 9:47 am
The simple answer to the question can you use radiators with an air source heat pump is yes! Radiators need to be sized for the flow temperatures your heat pump will be set to. The lower this set point, the more efficient your heat pump will be, and therefore the cheaper to run. The disad…
Posted in: Heat pumps
Comparing air source heat pumps part 1
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 28th February 2011 at 11:31 am
Before you start thinking about which particular air source heat pump you want, make sure that you have taken all the practical insulation measures to reduce the heat loss from your property. Let’s slim the choice down quickly! The first thing I would suggest you can do is eradicate any he…
Posted in: Heat pumps
Grants will be available for renewable heat as interim measure
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 11th March 2011 at 10:57 am
Domestic installations of renewable heat will be eligible for a grant, while we wait for the full renewable heat incentive scheme to be introduced in October 2012. From July 2011 RHI Premium Payments will be available. These will be a one-off payment to help with installation costs - essent…
Posted in: General
Comparing air source heat pumps part 2
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 25th March 2011 at 9:45 am
In case you haven't had time to read the first half of this two part blog, I will repeat the caveat I started with in Part 1. Before you start selecting the particular air source heat pump you want, make sure that you have taken all practical insulation measures possible to reduce the heat loss from…
Posted in: Heat pumps
Interest in renewable heat is high - but price expectations are not realistic
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 6th April 2011 at 11:25 am
If their boiler broke down tomorrow, 85 per cent of people would consider a renewable alternative, according to our new survey by YouGen. However, the amount they are prepared to pay falls short of what most renewable heat systems actually cost. We ran the survey following the recent announcement…
Posted in: General
How (& where) to position your air source heat pump
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 6th June 2011 at 9:35 am
"Where should I put my air source heat pump? is a question I am often asked. I reply "where would you like to put it?" and nine times out of 10 it can be installed where the enquirer had hoped it could. So let’s look at the basics to give us some ideas of where we can, and cannot, position …
Posted in: Heat pumps
Will Renewable Heat Premium Payments kick start the domestic market?
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 11th July 2011 at 9:47 am
The government is putting up £15m for the renewable heat premium payments between September (probably) and October 2012 when the domestic version of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is due to start. In essence they are a grant to help with the capital cost of installation; but will they kick sta…
Posted in: General
Renewable Heat Premium Payment rates confirmed - but are they enough to kickstart renewable heat?
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 21st July 2011 at 11:22 am
Capital grants to help with the cost of installing renewable heat technologies will be available from 1 August. Any householder in England, Scotland or Wales can apply for the £300 renewable heat premium payment for solar thermal panels. However, payments for biomass boilers (£950), air sou…
Posted in: Biomass, Heat pumps, Solar heat & hot water
Solar PV plus air source heat pumps: a case study of Donyatt village hall
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 5th August 2011 at 9:34 am
South east facing solar PV panels on a nearby roof got David Willis thinking that they might be an option for Donyatt Village Hall in Somerset. "They were facing a bit east of south east, and yet the performance is better than my solar pv panels on a south facing roof with slight shade first thi…
Posted in: Heat pumps, Solar electricity
Bicton Earth - a case study of building a renewable energy training centre
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 7th September 2011 at 9:09 am
A wide range of renewable technologies will be used in the new installer training centre and community interpretation centre at Bicton College in Devon. Old agricultural barns are being converted into a state-of-the-art centre. The heating will be set up to take first from the solar thermal panel…
Posted in: General
Government bottles permitted development rights for small wind
Posted by David Hunt on 7th October 2011 at 3:38 am
Once again the government has shown its weakness when it comes to decisions on planning permission and the green agenda and particularly when it comes to small wind turbines. To give credit where it is due, the recent addition of permitted development (PD) rights for the installation of d…
Posted in: Wind turbines
10 Questions to ask when choosing your air source heat pump installer
Posted by John W Lightfoot on 28th November 2011 at 9:13 am
1. Are you MCS certified? The Government is currently offering incentives (Renewable Heat Premium Payment) to people who install renewable energy heating equipment, including air source heat pumps, if your property does not have access to mains gas. It is also considering offering further…
Posted in: Heat pumps
'World's first RHI' launch over-shadowed by FITs debacle
Posted by Stewart Boyle on 7th December 2011 at 10:08 am
The long-awaited Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) officially ‘opened for business’ on 28th November. With £864 million available for the cashback scheme to support biomass boilers, solar water heating systems, heat pumps and bio-methane projects, it should have been a day of great celebration…
Posted in: General
Living with an air source heat pump
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 24th January 2012 at 7:54 pm
I regularly write about air source heat pumps, but until recently my knowledge was only academic, but on a recent trip to New Zealand I discovered what they are actually like to live with. At least three of the houses we stayed in were heated by an air to air heat pump. This means that the heat …
Posted in: Heat pumps
New MCS heat pump standard should improve performance
Posted by ChrisDavis on 30th April 2012 at 11:11 am
Are you thinking of installing a heat pump? Well there’s good news for householders and businesses in the shape of new standards to improve the performance of heat pump installations. Snappily titled “MIS3005 v3.1a”, the new standard affects all new heat pump systems since 1 March 2012 and …
Posted in: Heat pumps
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