In the latest of our spotlight series in partnership with The Heat Pump Association, Michelle Eastty from the elemental team speaks to Graham Wright, Senior Manager Environmental Research – UK, at Daikin Global about heat pump technology and reaching Net Zero.
1/ Why did Daikin become of a member of the Heat Pump Association (HPA) and what are the benefits of being involved? How has Daikin helped to raise awareness of the benefits of heat pumps through being a member of the HPA?
Daikin is a long-term member of the Heat Pump Association and I, personally, have been involved with it for over twenty years, and was its previous Chairman for a two-year term. I’m proud that it continues to go from strength to strength; its membership has grown significantly over the last four years, and now represents the majority of heat pump manufacturers in the UK.
Daikin is involved with the HPA, and a range of other associations, because we want to support industry in making the right choices regarding technology such as heat pumps and raise awareness amongst government and external bodies. Collectively, the range of organisations involved are a strong voice for the industry, and we’ve now become one of the de facto associations for government to seek opinion from on heat pumps. That’s always been the aim of the association, and it’s helped build the profile of heat pump technology in the UK as we work towards achieving net zero carbon targets.
2/ Elemental’s partnership with the HPA provides a series of informative content pieces, including this blog, on the latest developments in low carbon heating. What do you see as the key benefits of this partnership sharing advice?
Installers are absolutely key to the process. Manufacturers can share information about the technology they offer, but unless this is installed well and maintained, the equipment will not perform correctly . You can’t do a thing without an installer who is trained and knows how to operate the equipment effectively. Their role, in many ways, is understated, because they are the communication between the end user and the manufacturer. In many respects, they are the ones that are convincing the consumer to take this step to move away from conduction technology to more energy saving options.
Unless we have a sufficient number of well-trained, officially qualified installers, which manufacturers want to try and help with, it will be very difficult meeting the government’s heat pump targets. We need to reach a wider audience and collaborate to make the case for the technology. We’ve made the case with government through the building regulations, and we need to work with installers and consumers to show them what this really means.
3/ What are the key benefits of heat pump technology?
There are clear low carbon and efficiency benefits that have been spoken about, but for me, it’s important that the homeowner is engaged with the device that is used to heat their home. The technology makes us think more carefully about the boilers within our homes. For a long time we’ve just accepted that we have one, but we don’t know much about it. These devices need to be maintained, and are actually, quite often, oversized for what they need to do. Heat pump technology has made us consider how we heat our homes, how efficient boilers are, and what we need to do to maintain that efficiency and ongoing reduction in C02 emissions.
4/ What heat pump technology innovations does Daikin offer? For example, can you tell me about your Daikin Altherma range, and how it’s changing the industry?
Daikin has been researching what people understand about how their systems operate. We’ve been working a lot on system controls and integration, and making that easier through using apps to make sure that the homeowner can see where their energy is going. There’s a lot more to come too. A major benefit of our Altherma range for homeowners is that you can operate your heating system in an intelligent way – rather than being left to make decisions on how you run it based on data you don’t understand.
We have changed the refrigerants to be as environmentally friendly as we possibly can, whilst maintaining efficiency. We’ve also been looking at the way the installer interacts with the system and how to make the installation process easier, whilst balancing the complexity of controls that are needed. We’ve also been setting up sustainable home centres, so that people can go and look at the equipment and monitoring systems to improve maintenance and lifespan.
5/ What factors need to be considered when recommending and installing a heat pump system?
Installers should have a recognised heat pump qualification. When you go through a manufacturer’s web portal you can find details. For instance, when you contact Daikin, you can ask us to select a sustainable home centre who will put you in touch with a local installer or you can pick your own installer via that web portal. It helps to have an installer who knows your chosen manufacturer’s process. Alternatively, other things to look out for are MCS certified installers or TrustMark approved, to ensure they are suitably qualified.
6/ Do you think property owners and local authorities/housing associations might be confused about the funding options available? How can this be simplified?
I wish there wasn’t confusion, but this can arise when the government stops one source of funding and starts another very quickly. It takes a while, when changes are implemented, for people to understand what’s available, when, and how you can apply. Daikin is working to help homeowners to understand how to apply for the incentives available to them. The installers can also help homeowners in this process. I don’t think it’s going to get easier over the coming months, as government will still want to try and incentivise different areas of the market. As an organisation, Daikin will offer any guidance it possibly can to help homeowners and installers navigate their way through what can be a complicated area.
7/ How does Daikin support installers in the industry to expand their skills to accommodate heat pumps? For example, can you tell me a bit about your Sustainable Home Network/Sustainable Home Centres and how this supports them?
Installers can go to a sustainable home centre and be trained up on Daikin equipment. They can also be trained up on the Heat Pump Association course as well as the low carbon training course from CIPHE – the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineers. What we’re trying to do is to make training local, as this saves time and cost for the installer. In England, installers must have training that is recognised by The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) which regulates qualifications, examinations, and assessments.
8/ On that note, Daikin is a regular exhibitor at InstallerSHOW, which in 2022 will be co-located with our debut elemental expo. What are the primary reasons/benefits of being involved?
From our perspective, the show is a great way of getting in front of installers. Our sustainable homes centres have regular contact with them, but it’s also really important to go to shows and talk to installers directly to understand their issues and what they know and don’t know about the technology, and provide support and guidance so they can install it.
9/ What are some of the other challenges that need to be overcome on the road to decarbonisation and net zero?
We’ve overcome one of the challenges, which was changes to building regulations. Through the work of the Heat Pump Association, the government has recognised that heat pumps will have a key role to play in meeting net zero targets.
We’re going through a substantial period of change. There are some other significant policy issues that will have an impact, including the cost of energy and lots has been said on this. In essence, a proportion of your electricity bills pays for the wind turbines to make us green and there’s a subsidy on gas. The government really needs to figure out what it will do on energy. It’s a tricky subject – if you do it wrong you can end up with people in fuel poverty very quickly, and with the way fuel costs are rising that’s happening already this year. There has to be a significant change in the way government addresses this. To their credit, I think there’s a clear process on how they want to try and achieve net zero and they have incentivised schemes to do this. The policies will help installers and manufacturers to make the commitment expand their businesses, to ensure they can meet the demand.
10/ Do you think we are on course to meet the government’s heat pump targets of 600,000 a year by 2028?
Meeting the target of 600,000 heat pumps by 2028 will depend on next year and the year after. Two years ago, we had 35,000 heat pumps, next year should be 130,000, and the year after 260,000. The targets are big, but industry is up for it. Whether we meet it will depend on how we come out of this pandemic and how things stabilise after that.
11/ What do you want to see from the government to hit these goals?
We need to see a clear policy, which they’ve done in terms of building regulations. We also need a long-term strategy. In 2025, when the next version of the building regulations come out, there needs to be further measures to phase out installations of conventional gas boilers for home heating, which the government has indicated it intends to do, by the mid-2030s.
12/ Are there any more government reports or updates that you are aware of planned for next year that the industry needs to look at?
The building safety bill that’s coming out in 2023 is another change to the industry, where people’s qualifications, how equipment is installed, and compliance with building regulations are going to be closely looked at. This came out of the Grenfell Tower enquiry and it’s important that we comply with new requirements.
For more information about Daikin UK visit www.daikin.co.uk and for the Heat Pump Association visit www.heatpumps.org.uk.
