Large heat pump specialist Pure Thermal has called on building owners to utilise the advantages of heat pump technology for retrofit, amidst what the firm believes is widespread lack of understanding of their benefits. And the technology has a fan in Greenpeace. Andrew Gaved reports
The claims have received the support of environmental charity Greenpeace which recently installed a 114kW heat pump, which uses R290 propane as the refrigerant, at its head office, a 1920s industrial building in Canonbury, nor th London.
The Enerblue Palladium 120.4 scroll compressor heat pump, built in Italy, uses a four-pipe system with separate circuits to allow simultaneous heating and cooling.
Garry Broadbent managing director of Pure Thermal, which launched the Enerblue Palladium range in the UK last week, said that heat recovery, particularly, was a massive opportunity being missed by the industry. He said: “There are buildings all over the country with chillers just throwing away heat. It is the biggest issue in our industry today.”
He added that as well as harnessing the heat output from chillers with water-source heat pump, other sources of waste heat could include cooling towers or manufacturing processes.
He said: “Waste heat is one large opportunity in industrial decarbonisation – and it can be captured in commercial buildings too…”
Use of four-pipe heat pumps could provide a viable alternative to VRF installations in midsize buildings, he said, given that a 40kW heat pump only required 5kg of refrigerant, with a noise output of 38dBa: “For retrofit, it removes the refrigerant considerations of VRFs altogether.”
The Palladium twin-circuit configuration has the added distinction of enabling two different sources simultaneously, he noted. This would allow the heat pump to use air-source on one circuit and waste heat on the other. A further advantage of the twin-compressor, twin-circuit approach is that the defrost cycle can occur without any loss of heat, the firm boasts.
The Palladium range can provide leaving water temperatures up to 70 deg C and operates in external air temperatures down to -20 deg C. It can work in both heating and cooling mode, with the range providing 50-164kW heating and 40-135kW cooling.
One of the key benefits for Greenpeace of the new heat pump is its ultralow noise output, Garry noted, so the unit is able to run at 73dBa without further attenuation.
‘Nothing to be afraid of’
He also told buildings consultants and specifiers ‘there is nothing to be afraid of’ with the R290 refrigerant, which offers high efficiency but requires a higher level of safety compliance than many current refrigerants as it is flammable, such as safe working zones.
He said; “The last thing we need is for the industry to be bickering over safe use of the refrigerant when we all stand at barbecues next to big tanks of propane without any safe zones at all. This installation is not just a heat pump for Greenpeace, but a message to the market.”
At the same time, he cautioned against treating the explosive risk assessments (which are required for each R290 installation) too lightly: “They are application-specific, so manufacturers shouldn’t really be offering generic risk guidance outside of their datasheets.”
He added that drawing up the risk assessment after everything was installed was equally problematic. “If you do the risk assessment and then find that the installation is to close too a drain, you are going to be in trouble. That’s why having a desktop survey to begin with is vital.”
The Greenpeace perspective
Greenpeace resource and technology director Andrew Hatton noted that the journey from specification to installation of the Palladium – at a cost above £100,000 – had been a fairly long process, as the charity had not done an upgrade like this before and additionally was determined to do thorough due diligence, given its environmental credentials. But, he said, the Palladium had successfully met Greenpeace’s parameters of having ultralow noise; retrofit suitability; high temperature output; and met F-Gas considerations.
The upgrade is part of the second phase of the charity’s carbon decentralisation plan, and followed fabric and lighting upgrades to the building. As well as the heating upgrades, the current phase will see more fleet electrification and Demand Side Response initiatives, although Andrew noted that ‘our energy suppliers are not yet where we need them to be’ in enabling DSR to progress.
Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace, said that the charity is so proud of its heat pump installation that it has recently hosted a government delegation in the building.
He said: “It allowed us to say ‘finally we have come off gas,’ but it also allowed us to say ‘we need this government to invest in heat pumps for the future.’ We are calling for the government to invest £2.5 billion a year until 2028. We estimate that would allow 900,000 homes to be heated with heat pumps every year until then…Sir Keir Starmer has just committed to the moonshot of net zero and that moonshot needs an awful lot of heat pumps.
He added that investment in heat pumps has benefits far beyond heat policy: “It isn’t just about coming off gas. it is about creating employment opportunities for young people… it is about removing the pollution currently coming from diesel back up generators…It is a big part of our vision – as much as about saving bills and energy. This is us walking the talk.”
Garry called on industry and government alike to encourage the take-up of large heat pumps, whether using natural refrigerants such as propane, or synthetic HFOs. He said: “The design must meet the application demands and the understanding of compliance and safety is key…But the potential is huge: On a scale of one to ten, the average understanding of heat recovery is probably two.”
