UPDATED 1 Sept: The EI library in London is temporarily closed to the public, as a precautionary measure in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The Knowledge Service will still be answering email queries via email , or via live chats during working hours (09:15-17:00 GMT). Our e-library is always open for members here: eLibrary , for full-text access to over 200 e-books and millions of articles. Thank you for your patience.
New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
UK energy networks evolve with low-carbon heat sources
26/7/2023
6 min read
Feature
District heating networks have been around for a long time but are gradually being upgraded to use a range of low-carbon heat sources, including waste heat and, where available, geothermal energy. Andrew Mourant looks at recent progress in the UK.
For a country bent on rapidly reducing its carbon footprint, few things are more lamentable than seeing vast amounts of heat, generated by all sorts of installations, go to waste. In 2021, it was estimated that 310 TWh/y was being squandered in the UK – it could be more by now. Waste heat is a resource begging to be exploited far more widely.
That’s something the government intends pursuing as part of its plan to beef up the number of district heating networks in the UK. These are systems of insulated pipes that take heat from a central source and deliver it to a group of buildings. The source can be a combined heat and power (CHP) plant; or heat recovered from industry and urban infrastructure, canals and rivers, mines or waste plants.
Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) interim CEO Caroline Bragg says heat networks are the ‘only internationally proven route’ for decarbonising heat at scale – ‘established and now entering a new era… building at scale is the next step’.