Renewable Energy Presentation

There was a presentation about energy conservation and heat-pumps at the Lord Combermere on Tuesday evening – all the facts and figures below are Audlem Online's best recollection of a welter of bits of data, so numbers (and indeed opinions) should be treated with care.

BackgroundA short film produced by David Mackay (Chief Government Scientific Advisor) was shown outlining the challenges facing us in terms of climate change, global warming and energy requirements.

While the first two are contentious and sometimes hotly debated issues, it is obvious that the fossil fuels on which the UK relies on for some 90% of its energy needs must run out in the not-too-distant future.

While some might argue that the demise of the world's computer systems (even including Audlem Online) might not be an unmitigated disaster, it is clear that losing "touch-of-the-switch" power for lighting and heating and all the other things we rely on for our daily lives would be a traumatic and possibly terminal shock for all concerned.

Can we find replacements for fossil fuels?Nuclear power, with all its real and imagined drawbacks, represents the quickest short-term contribution to the supply defecit (the output from the Sizewell B nuclear reactor is equivalent to huge numbers of wind turbines).

Using renewables – wind, solar wave power etc – can all contribute to the problem to some (limited) extent, but all of them have drawbacks in land coverage and infrastructure.

Can energy demand be drastically reduced?Unfortunately, turning off mobile-phone chargers when not in use is not quite enough to save the world.

However, the good news, according to Nic Goodwin and his colleagues from earthandair energy Ltd is that a significant part of the energy used for heating and hot water can possibly be saved.

The trick is to use an air pump or a ground pump to exchange heat between the surrounding air or ground and your central heating system – a sort of refrigerator operating in reverse.

They claim that a heat exchange unit can be used in place of an existing boiler and still use the old pipework and radiators, although underfloor heating is the method that gives best benefits.

The initial cost of the system is not trivial, but if the claimed reductions (perhaps 50% to 70%) in fuel costs are anywhere near reality then the payback period should be relatively short.

click here" rel="nofollow">click here for a PDF file containing David Mackay's article.

click here" rel="nofollow">click here for a link to Nic Goodwin at earthandair energy ltd.

click here to visit the page for ADAPT, the recently formed Audlem Group looking into these issues and others relating to Transition Towns.

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