Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis
The UK is currently approaching a critical point in the fight against climate change. To achieve carbon neutral by 2050, it is crucial that the way in which buildings are heated are reviewed to determine the most suitable solution. The UK government has acknowledged that district heating (also refer...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | e-Prime: Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772671123000281 |
| _version_ | 1797802024282095616 |
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| author | Ryan Hepple Hu Du Haibo Feng Shan Shan Siliang Yang |
| author_facet | Ryan Hepple Hu Du Haibo Feng Shan Shan Siliang Yang |
| author_sort | Ryan Hepple |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The UK is currently approaching a critical point in the fight against climate change. To achieve carbon neutral by 2050, it is crucial that the way in which buildings are heated are reviewed to determine the most suitable solution. The UK government has acknowledged that district heating (also referred to as heat networks) forms an important part of their plan for future sustainability in heating homes as well as improving energy costs. At present, there are five generations of district heating with distinctive improvements between each. However, research shows a lack of progression with only minor improvements to efficiencies and carbon emissions in the past two decades. Therefore, this paper aimed to review the key technologies and design principles of the low-impact network which shall be implemented into future networks to ensure sustainability and carbon neutral. Furthermore, data were utilised from UK government's ‘Heat Network Project Pipeline’ documents which cover a wide range of projects supported through the development stage by the UK Heat Network Delivery Unit. A statistical analysis was also undertaken to identify popular heat source technologies currently being implemented into the UK networks. Information such as technologies, size and costs were analysed to establish the intercorrelations, which may influence the type of technologies being selected. The results show that 56% of total networks contained Combined Heat and Power (CHP) as a primary heat source, of which over 40% were gas fired CHP, displaying the current dominance of the technology. Overall, it is evident in the UK that, the new networks have been improved from previous generations with a high concentration of renewable energy technologies and heat recovery methods being used. However, there is still a high reliance on natural gas, which does not fulfil the characteristics of a low-impact heating network. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:00:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2caf06b1f13d4f12853dd2a0ad1a95c1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2772-6711 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:00:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | e-Prime: Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy |
| spelling | doaj.art-2caf06b1f13d4f12853dd2a0ad1a95c12023-06-17T05:21:45ZengElseviere-Prime: Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy2772-67112023-06-014100133Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysisRyan Hepple0Hu Du1Haibo Feng2Shan Shan3Siliang Yang4School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom; Sine Consulting Limited, Durham, United KingdomSchool of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United KingdomDepartment of Wood Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaSchool of Strategy and Leadership, Coventry University, Coventry, United KingdomSchool of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom; Corresponding author.The UK is currently approaching a critical point in the fight against climate change. To achieve carbon neutral by 2050, it is crucial that the way in which buildings are heated are reviewed to determine the most suitable solution. The UK government has acknowledged that district heating (also referred to as heat networks) forms an important part of their plan for future sustainability in heating homes as well as improving energy costs. At present, there are five generations of district heating with distinctive improvements between each. However, research shows a lack of progression with only minor improvements to efficiencies and carbon emissions in the past two decades. Therefore, this paper aimed to review the key technologies and design principles of the low-impact network which shall be implemented into future networks to ensure sustainability and carbon neutral. Furthermore, data were utilised from UK government's ‘Heat Network Project Pipeline’ documents which cover a wide range of projects supported through the development stage by the UK Heat Network Delivery Unit. A statistical analysis was also undertaken to identify popular heat source technologies currently being implemented into the UK networks. Information such as technologies, size and costs were analysed to establish the intercorrelations, which may influence the type of technologies being selected. The results show that 56% of total networks contained Combined Heat and Power (CHP) as a primary heat source, of which over 40% were gas fired CHP, displaying the current dominance of the technology. Overall, it is evident in the UK that, the new networks have been improved from previous generations with a high concentration of renewable energy technologies and heat recovery methods being used. However, there is still a high reliance on natural gas, which does not fulfil the characteristics of a low-impact heating network.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772671123000281UK district heatingLow temperature heatingRenewable and sustainable energy technologiesCarbon neutrality |
| spellingShingle | Ryan Hepple Hu Du Haibo Feng Shan Shan Siliang Yang Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis e-Prime: Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy UK district heating Low temperature heating Renewable and sustainable energy technologies Carbon neutrality |
| title | Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis |
| title_full | Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis |
| title_fullStr | Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis |
| title_short | Sustainability and carbon neutrality in UK's district heating: A review and analysis |
| title_sort | sustainability and carbon neutrality in uk s district heating a review and analysis |
| topic | UK district heating Low temperature heating Renewable and sustainable energy technologies Carbon neutrality |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772671123000281 |
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