A study looking at the feasibility of capturing and using waste heat from power stations for warming homes and providing hot water is to be carried out by the UK’s Energy Technologies Institute.
Heat is the biggest application of energy in Britain, accounting for 44% of all the country’s energy consumption, most of this used for heating homes and providing hot water.
Yet while many of our continental cousins are used to district heating systems, plus waste energy harvested from power stations, the culture in Britain has been to ignore this resource.
Effective harvesting of waste heat is as important for fossil fuel plant as for new generation biomass and other sustainable fuels systems.
The six month, £140,000 ETI project will examine the feasibility of capturing and using large quantities of waste heat from power stations and industrial processes and storing it underground for use later in homes and offices.
Chief executive Dr David Clarke said: “Capturing even 10% of this waste heat would have a significant impact on the UK’s total carbon emissions and security of supply, helping reduce our need for large quantities of imported fuels in the winter months when prices are highest.
“Most industrial processes, especially electricity generation, produce large quantities of heat which is usually emitted as waste to our rivers, sea and air.
“One of the main obstacles for making use of this waste heat is that it is not available at the same time and place as the demand.
“However it is technically possible to store very large quantities of heat energy below ground in geological structures such as saline aquifers or disused mines. The heat could even be accumulated through the summer to be used during the winter.
“Many of the potential heat sources and storage areas are close to centres of population and could be used to support large scale district heating schemes, but there are currently many uncertainties around the effectiveness, environmental impact and ultimate capacity of such systems in the UK.”
The UK’s total demand for heat is about 800 TeraWatt hours per year and 84% of homes are heated by gas.
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