Air Source Heat Pumps

Fuel poverty is a serious issue across the UK, especially for families living in old, energy inefficient housing. As the temperatures drop and the cost of energy rises, tackling this issue is high on the agenda – and housing associations, among others, are addressing it as a top priority. To reduce costs, an increase in energy efficiency is a must, and action needs to be taken as soon as possible to lift households out of fuel poverty.

Alongside fuel poverty, achieving net-zero is another key national issue. For housing associations that we at Mitsubishi Electric are working with, these heating options are not mutually exclusive. Not only does an implementation of energy-efficient measures reduce operating costs, it also slashes the carbon impact of providing power to tenants.

Leading HVAC manufacturer LG has recently launched a New Build Design Service, to assist new build developers including social housing developers when specifying heat pumps into new homes. In the short time it has been in place, it has already been welcomed by new build developers taking advantage of the new service.
This new service is for developments of 6 or more plots and will provide full designs for plumbing and heating layouts along with equipment schedules that specify the heat pump required, radiator or underfloor manifold heating positions, pipework type and length and controls to ensure that the system which is specified will provide the necessary heating and hot water solution for any house archetype. Furthermore, LG also offers a unique service for CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis, determining the optimal location and performance simulation of the outdoor units.

by Scott Ditchfield, Head of Sales Network - Residential Product Group, Mitsubishi Electric

Decarbonising the built environment is one of the biggest focuses in the UK today, in order to reach the ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Heating and hot water are big emitters of carbon, so changing the way we heat homes is vital to achieving this – and housing associations embracing low-carbon heating play an important part.
 
For social housing, keeping tenants warm and comfortable while ensuring energy costs stay low is critical. As we head into the colder months, it’s important that housing associations are supported to be able to move towards technology like heat pumps, which can provide heat and warm water to multiple homes or apartments, while being efficient enough to keep both energy use and costs to a minimum. 

With consumer demand for heat pumps at an all-time high, Panasonic has partnered with Drayton by Schneider Electric to offer its Wiser room-by-room heating control system. Seamlessly integrating with Panasonic Aquarea Air Source Heat Pumps and the Aquarea Smart Cloud and Service Cloud apps, the Wiser system provides an additional element of energy control and simple home automation.

The heat pump revolution is underway in the UK with more and more housebuilders and social housing providers opting for heat pumps rather than the traditional fossil fuelled gas and oil fuelled boilers. The Government has introduced legislation that will see boilers phased out by 2025 in new build properties, but sensibly, many developers are getting ahead of the game and future proofing their new homes and in many cases the heating system upgrades on existing homes as well. The new, easy to install, highly energy efficient air to water heat pumps available now are proving to be hugely popular, with Unitherm already picking up a number of sizeable contracts from social housing providers. And it’s been Unitherm’s ‘All U Need’ approach - full supply, design heat pump package, with a simple to install system and full technical support that is proving popular.

by Russell Dean, Head of the Residential Product Group at Mitsubishi Electric

The Government recently brought forward an Energy Security Bill as part of the Queen’s Speech, which sets out the policies and the proposed legislative programme for the new Parliamentary session.

Although the news was full of the fact that this was the first time the Queen had been unable to deliver the speech since 1963, with Prince Charles stepping in to deliver the address in place of his mother, there was another important omission that hasn’t yet gained any coverage.

The Energy Security Bill is designed to deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner, and more secure energy and will deliver the Government’s commitments in the British Energy Security Strategy and the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution to build a more secure, homegrown energy system that is cleaner and more affordable.

Although the bill focuses on new proposed legislation, there was no mention of how this builds on existing plans, such as the recently published ECO4 initiative, which is the fourth and final phase of the Government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

Richard Bishop, Head of Marketing for UK and Ireland at Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions, calls for social housing providers to tackle fuel poverty by collaborating to deliver more sustainable energy solutions for the homes of the future.