Volume 54 | Issue 7 | July/August 2016
Fund for expanding use of district heat networks
Hit the bull’s eye with Werner!
Government has pledged £320m of capital support to increase the volume of heat networks being built in the UK to deliver carbon savings and help a self-sustaining heat network market to develop. The Government has announced plans to invest £320million over the next five years to bring more heat networks to the UK. Dubbed ‘central heating for cities’, these networks provide large districts with heat from a centralised source. It is claimed that some households will see a 30% reduction in their heating bills by taking part in the scheme. District heating already exists in a number of city centres, including Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham and Southampton, and the Government is now looking to broaden its application. A consultation is underway to determine how to best spend the £320million fund. Heat can be taken from a range of sources including large heat pumps, combined heat and power plants, and deep geothermal plants. It is then pumped around homes and businesses, with the potential to bring down the cost of energy bills and reduce carbon emissions. Another source under investigation is waste heat coming from incinerator plants,
Secretary of State Amber Rudd
factories and offices. A district heat network of pipes could capture this heat and pump it around the homes and businesses nearby to provide warmth when they need it. Without a network, this waste heat simply gets dumped into the atmosphere. Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd says: “This is an important next step in developing more home-grown energy, which is a vital part of our plan to ensure long-term energy security and affordable energy for families
and businesses. The funding we’re consulting on will enable these schemes to provide affordable low carbon energy to thousands of homes and businesses across Britain.” Tim Rotheray, Director of the Association for Decentralised Energy, comments: “The Government’s commitment to district heating infrastructure investment is a welcome sign to the decentralised energy community. The need to cost-effectively decarbonise heat in the UK, deliver local infrastructure investments, and make heat more affordable remains imperative. This announcement reaffirms that this Government sees district heating as having key role to play in these ambitions.” There is some uncertainty as to how the EU referendum decision will impact on the energy sector, but Amber Rudd has confirmed that the Government remains committed to dealing with climate change. “While I think the UK’s role in dealing with a warming planet may have been made harder by the decision, our commitment to dealing with it has not gone away,” she says.
Ten lucky readers to win a Werner Work Platform and an exclusive dartboard see page 11
Getting Inta Glastonbury
Report on CO and low ventilation rates A new report has concluded that there is no increased risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning in buildings with low levels of ventilation, provided that the appliances are properly installed and correctly maintained. Commissioned by the Gas Safety Trust in conjunction with the Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers (IGEM), the report investigated the potential concentration of CO due to emissions from gas appliances in domestic buildings with low ventilation rates. The investigation, which was undertaken by the HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory, tested four different domestic gas appliances: a four ring hob single oven gas cooker, a wallmounted flue-less gas fire, a portable cabinet
heater and a standard gas fire requiring a flue. Although it was concluded there was no elevated risk of CO poisoning in these situations, the report highlights a number of areas for further work that could be undertaken, such as the effects from poorly maintained appliances, or the risks when using alternative heating fuels such as wood or other solid fuels. While the investigation focused on the concentration of CO, there were recordings of elevated CO2 emissions from gas appliances, which could also be the subject of further research. “This report reinforces the view of the Gas Safety Trust that it is essential that consumers ensure that their gas appliances are correctly
installed, regularly serviced and appropriately used,” says GST Chairman Chris Bielby. “We also recommend the use of audible CO alarms tested to the European standard EN 50291 as a second line of defence.” More research in this area is being conducted by Cranfield University, which is part of the co+Impact Project, launched in July and funded by the Gas Safety Trust. Researchers say that more investigation is needed in chronic low-level poisoning, as this has the biggest impact on the UK population. Furthermore, how this may change with the increase in energy efficient homes is an important topic where more in-depth knowledge is required.
In a festival renowned for its mud as much as its music, 500 non-concussive taps were supplied by Inta to deliver fresh water to Glastonbury’s 175,000 music lovers. Cynthia Fisher, Director at Inta, says: “Supplying taps that minimise water wastage to a festival that is vocal on environmental issues seemed like a perfect fit for us. Glastonbury is famous for being one of the muddiest festivals in the world, and we were happy to do our bit to keep festival-goers fresh.”
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