Heat pumps have had a sluggish start to life, particularly in the UK. But now the technology is on an upward trajectory.
In England, when the north-east winds blow across the Fens to Cambridge, ageing gas boilers within the medieval buildings of the university struggle to keep students warm. To compensate for raw conditions brought by the ‘Beast from the East’ and other cold snaps, radiators run at 80°C, churning out heat that leaks through rattling windows.
But nearby there is a source of free heat – from the ground, from the River Cam, even from the air – and if advocates of heat pumps have their way, university buildings hundreds of years old will eventually be warmed by lower-carbon energy. If thermal energy could be stored and recycled here and across the UK, hefty emissions caused by heating could fall dramatically.
When Professor Andy Woods oversaw a small experiment at St John’s College, Cambridge, to turn the temperature in the central heating pipes down to 60°C to mimic heat pump...