Low Carbon District Heating discussed at ASHRAE UK District Heating Seminar
Dr Andy Pearson, Director of Star Refrigeration and ASHRAE Fellow, presented a paper on ‘Low Carbon District Heating: Centralised Heat Pump Systems’ at Birmingham University, last evening.The open seminar event was hosted by ASHRAE UK in association with IOR, CIBSE West Midlands, BRSA and the BEI.
Dr Andy Pearson shared Star Refrigeration experiences on centralised heat pump systems, which draw warmth from water sources including rivers, lakes, aquifers and industrial processes to transfer it to a distribution network for delivery to homes, offices, hospitals, universities and retail.
The company successfully deployed a large 90°C water source district heat pump in the city of Drammen in Norway in 2011, which has delivered over 300GWh of clean heat to date and overall carbon savings equivalent to driving over 10,000 times around the globe.
Using this installation as a case study example, Dr Pearson outlined the initial concept and discussed the technical challenges faced throughout the process and the ways in which they were overcome. The Drammen district heat pump was one of the projects named by ASHRAE in their citation for Dr Pearson’s ASHRAE Fellowship award at the 2016 winter meeting in Orlando this year. It also won him the coveted Rittinger Medal from the International Energy Agency for “groundbreaking research, design and development work in the field of heat pump technology.” The technology has made it possible to deliver heat at high temperatures using ammonia.
There has been a rapid and remarkable increase in discussion of industrial-sized heat pump systems for district heating in the UK over the last three years. Steve Gill, President of the ASHRAE UK Midlands Section and the president of the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR), said, “Although heat networks are not a new idea, they have traditionally been seen as a very ‘un-British’ way of delivering domestic heating. The realisation that our carbon reduction targets cannot be met without some drastic changes to the way we live our lives has changed all that.”
“DECC have completed a heat mapping exercise showing all the major sources of heat and correlating them to major demand centres in order to promote the uptake of district heating networks.”
“We were delighted to have Andy sharing his knowledge and experience as well as the challenges involved in the design and installation of low carbon district heat pumps. The event was very well received and there was a lot of interest in doing further joint events in future.”
Dr Pearson was made ASHRAE Fellow in January this year. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. He has spoken at conferences around the world, including the IIR Congresses in The Hague, Sydney, Washington DC, Beijing and Prague, and at seminars in the United States, Australia and South Africa. He is a regular contributor to industry journals and magazines and was appointed as the Group Managing Director of Star Refrigeration earlier this year.
A recording of the seminar which took place on 14 June in the Mechanical & Civil Engineering Building (Room McE-G26) at Birmingham University’s Edgbaston Campus can be accessed free through the IOR’s webinar system.
Webinar recording: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5528975959136754691
Photos from the event can be found at: https://goo.gl/photos/SMH75HfkkC84qpWRA