Analysis of ground-source heat pumps in north-of-England homes

YesThe performance of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems for domestic use is an increasing area of study in the UK. This paper examines the thermal performance of three bespoke shallow horizontal GSHP systems installed in newly built residential houses in the North of England against a control house which was fitted with a standard gas boiler. A total of 350 metres of High Density Polyethylene pipe with an external diameter of 40 mm was used for each house as a heat pump loop. The study investigated (i) the performance of a single loop horizontal Ground Heat Exchanger (GHE) against a double loop GHE and (ii) rainfall effects on heat extraction by comparing a system with an infiltration trench connected to roof drainage against a system without an infiltration trench above the ground loops. Parameters monitored for a full year from October 2013 to September 2014. Using the double GHE has shown an enhanced performance of up to 20% compared with single GHE. The infiltration trench is found to improve performance of the heat pumps; the double loop GHE system with an infiltration trench had a COP 5% higher than that of the double loop GHE system without a trench

Heat pipe based municipal waste treatment unit for home energy recovery

A heat pipe based pyrolysis chamber has been developed and tested as an efficient, cost effective and space saving municipal waste treatment unit. The performance of the chamber was evaluated based on the temperature distributions inside the chamber, its electricity consumption and the chemical characteristics of the final pyrolysis products (bio-chars and pyro-oils) obtained from the process and validated by three test runs. In all the three tests, the type of waste treated was municipal waste obtained from households. In addition, special cases of challenging waste configurations, such as mixed domestic plastics and PVC are reported. The chemical analysis of the pyrolysis and the ash residues from the municipal solid waste showed no toxic elements in their composition. The main component of the char was calcium, the fluid oil obtained from the initial stages of pyrolysis had a similar composition to that of water, while the dense oil produced during the final stage of the process showed traces of iron and a potential composition match to commercial additive oils. The chemical analysis of the chars and ash obtained from the mixed domestic waste showed no toxicity for the mixed plastic char but a potential toxicity of the PVC char due to the existence of lead and chlorine. Calculations regarding the coefficient of performance (COP) of the heat pipe based pyrolysis unit indicated that the COP decreased with the increase of moisture content of the waste stream. For 0% moisture content in the waste stream the COP of the unit was 9.4 and the carbon footprint of the unit was 0.0782 kg CO2e per kg of treatment. On the other hand, for a maximum moisture content of 100% the COP was 0.53 and the CO2 emissions were 0.3873 kg CO2e per kg of treatment

Waste to energy in the UK: policy and institutional issues

A sustainable waste management policy is necessary to manage the growing stream of municipal solid waste in ecologically sustainable ways. Although landfill has been the dominant form of waste management in the UK there is a need to comply with the European Union landfill directive. Waste to energy (WtE) is a viable waste management option to reduce the reliance on landfills and reap the energy benefits of waste. The first waste-fired power plant was built in the UK in 1885 but several barriers have constrained the use of WtE. This paper assesses the policy and institutional context for the development of WtE in the UK. It discusses how public opinion and choice of technology are important factors in achieving a wider acceptance of WtE in the UK. There is a need to devise coordinated policies on sustainable waste management at the regional and local levels. Furthermore, making all WtE technologies eligible for renewable obligation certificates could support the development of the technology and divert waste from landfills. The absence of efficient heat delivery networks is also a barrier to fulfilling the potential for WtE in the UK

A conceptual framework for negotiating public involvement in municipal waste management decision-making in the UK

The technical expertise that politicians relied on in the past to produce cost-effective and environmentally sound solutions no longer provides sufficient justification to approve waste facilities. Local authorities need to find more effective ways to involve stakeholders and communities in decision-making since public acceptance of municipal waste facilities is integral to delivering effective waste strategies. This paper presents findings from a research project that explored attitudes towards greater levels of public involvement in UK waste management decision-making. The study addressed questions of perception, interests, the decision context, the means of engagement and the necessary resources and capacity for adopting a participatory decision process. Adopting a mixed methods approach, the research produced an empirical framework for negotiating the mode and level of public involvement in waste management decision-making. The framework captures and builds on theories of public involvement and the experiences of practitioners, and offers guidance for integrating analysis and deliberation with public groups in different waste management decision contexts. Principles in the framework operate on the premise that the decision about ‘more’ and ‘better’ forms of public involvement can be negotiated, based on the nature of the waste problem and wider social context of decision-making. The collection of opinions from the wide range of stakeholders involved in the study has produced new insights for the design of public engagement processes that are context-dependent and ‘fit-for-purpose’; these suggest a need for greater inclusivity in the case of contentious technologies and high levels of uncertainty regarding decision outcomes

The political sustainability of climate policy: the case of the UK Climate Change Act

This paper assesses the forces working for and against the political sustainability of the UK 2008 Climate Change Act. The adoption of the Act is seen as a landmark commitment to action on climate change, but its implementation has not been studied in any depth. Recent events, including disagreements over the fourth carbon budget and the decarbonisation of the electricity sector, shows that while the Act might appear to lock in a commitment to reducing emissions through legal means, this does not guarantee political lock-in. The assumption, made by some proponents of the Act, that accountability of political leaders to a public concerned about climate change, via Parliament, would provide the main political underpinning to the Act is criticised. An analysis of alternative sources of political durability is presented, drawing on a framework for understanding the sustainability of reform developed by Patashnik. It is argued that the Act has helped create major institutional transformations, although the degree to which new institutions have displaced the power of existing ones is limited. The Act has produced some policy feedback effects, especially in the business community, and some limited investment effects, but both have been insufficient to withstand destabilisation by recent party political conflicts. The Climate Change Act remains at risk

Of embodied emissions and inequality: rethinking energy consumption

This paper situates concepts of energy consumption within the context of growing research on embodied emissions. Using the UK as a case study I unpack the global socio-economic and ecological inequalities inherent in the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions on a territorial basis under the international climate change framework. In so doing, I problematise questions of distribution, allocation and responsibility with regards to the pressing need to reduce global GHG emissions and the consumption that generates them. I challenge the disproportionate emphasis that energy policy places on supply as opposed to demand, as well as its overriding focus on the national scale. Consequently I argue that any low carbon transition, in addition to a technological process, is also a geographical one that will involve the reconfiguration of "current spatial patterns of economic and social activity" (Bridge et al., 2013:331), as well as relationships both within countries and regions and between them

Appraising infrastructure for new towns in Ireland

Copyright © 2013 ICE Publishing Ltd. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees.Over a 20 year period 1996–2016, a new 223 ha town is being developed 10 miles west of Dublin's city centre on the south side of Lucan, County Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). This €4 billion ‘Adamstown’ development is the first of four planning schemes in ROI to be approved as a strategic development zone – an integrated planning framework deemed suitable for creating sustainable neighbourhoods in sites of strategic economic or social importance to the state. The creation of sustainable neighbourhoods in ROI is facilitated through the implementation of a checklist of 60 indicators. This paper critically examines the attempts being made to consider sustainability within the development's overall infrastructure plan, specifically: transport, energy and water services, information technology and waste. Inadequacies in the existing development are linked to shortfalls in the sustainability checklist, by way of a comparison of infrastructure-related indicators from the ROI checklist with those derived for the UK and exemplar European projects (i.e. Bedzed, UK and Freiberg, Germany). The subsequent legacy for future residents of Adamstown is then considered in the context of ‘what if’ scenarios

A UK practitioner view of domestic energy performance measurement

There is a growing body of evidence concerning the energy efficiency performance of domestic buildings in the UK, driven by policy-based agenda, such as the need for zero carbon dioxide homes by 2016 for new build homes, and Green Deal and energy company obligation for sustainable refurbishment. While there have been a number of studies funded and results presented in this area, little work has been done to understand the drivers, practices and issues of data collection and analysis. There are a number of major building performance evaluation (BPE) studies in the UK, yet behind many of these research projects are practical issues of data loss, experimental error, data analysis variances and resident issues that are common when studies move from the actual to the living lab. In this paper the issues of domestic energy are addressed by leading BPE practitioners in the UK. They identify issues of client demands, technical failure, costs and implementation. The work provides insights of both academic and industry-based practitioners and considers not only the practicalities of building performance studies, but also implications for these types of studies in the future

Mobility justice in low carbon energy transitions

Mobility systems raise multiple questions of justice. Work on mobility justice and policy often treats different elements of the debate separately, for example focussing on environmental justice or accessibility. This is problematic as it can privilege policy solutions without a full view of the winners and losers and the values implicit in that. Using analysis of current policy, we investigate how mobility justice can reconcile its different components, and find two major consequences. First, is doubt about the justice of the existing policy approach which tries to tackle transport pollution primarily through a shift to low emission vehicles. This approach privileges those with access to private vehicles and further privileges certain sets of activities. Second is a need to reassess which basic normative ideas should be applied in mobility justice. Work on mobility justice has tended to appeal to conceptions of justice concerned with access to resources including resources enabling mobility. These conceptions say little about how resources should be used. We show that avoiding stark inequalities means collectively thinking about how resources are used, about how we value activities involving mobility, and about what sorts of goods and services we create