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Read the full speaker interview as James discusses the challenges preventing greater levels of decarbonisation within domestic heating, what he will be presenting at the seminar and regulatory changes.
Q: Conversation around the topic of decarbonising domestic heating can be divisive, how best can engineers continue to support consumers and technical development?
James Standley (JS): There are multiple routes to decarbonising domestic heating and there aren’t any no regret (golden bullet) solutions that directly replace our current fossil fuel systems without some compromise. This is particularly the case when we take a whole systems perspective and map the impacts of that back to consumers. By taking a whole system perspective and the impact of a technology choice on consumers (over both the short and long term) engineers can help guide consumers to make the right technology choice that moves us to net zero at the lowest cost to them.
Q: What are the top challenges preventing greater levels of decarbonisation within domestic heating?
JS: The low cost of gas relative to the high cost of electricity for the consumer.
Q: What will you be presenting at the seminar and how will this benefit participants?
JS: I will be presenting one of the solutions for mass deployment of low carbon heating systems and its place in the mix of potential solutions. This solution is being pioneered by Kensa, a market leader in this space, who design, manufacture, and install in the UK. I will also present some of the installation and maintenance barriers, both those that are not real, and those that are.
Q: What changes in regulation have had the most impact on the engineering challenges to decarbonising domestic heating and where would you hope to see changes made?
JS: One of the larger technical challenges has been the desire to lower the global warming potential (GWP) of refrigerants used in heat pumps while also increasing their efficiency as lower GWP refrigerants are generally either less efficient or flammable. This could be mitigated in the future by enacting the proposed increase to the maximum charge of A3 refrigerants. This would permit heat pump efficiencies to increase at the same time as lowering global warming potential.
The regulation change that would have the biggest impact however is not a technical one and would involve a better reflection of the cost of carbon in the relative prices of electricity and gas.
The Optimising Fluid Machinery: Heat Pumps and Hydrogen Boilers seminar will be taking place on 12 June 2024 at One Birdcage Walk, London.
Hear from organisations including Worcester Bosch, Enertek International, Kiwa UK, Kensa Heat Pumps, DNV, The Carbon Trust and University of Nottingham as they deliver presentations covering the following topics:
- Understanding the Way Forward in the Decarbonisation of Domestic Heat Production
- Hydrogen Boiler Manufacturing and Industry Update
- Delivering City Wide Decarbonisation with District Heating and Large Heat Pumps
- Waste Heat Storage Technologies and District Heating Systems
- Electrification Technologies and the Impact on Decarbonised Heat Production
Join this event to:
- Better understand the way forward in the decarbonisation of domestic heat production
- Gain an industry update on hydrogen ready boilers
- Hear from experts on heat pumps installation and maintenance
- Gather key regulatory and research updates from academics, governing bodies and advisory institutions
- Network with senior engineers, OEMs and fluid machinery experts in order to progress professional and industrial relationships
To book your place, please visit the event website.