Heating High Rise: Blog Series

Ground source heat pumps for reducing fuel poverty and improving resident well-being

The science to prove we are in the midst of a climate crisis is indisputable, we can see the evidence of this in the news every day and often just by heading outside. What is becoming increasingly clear is that we are also in an energy crisis. Not only are we challenged with becoming more sustainable in our use of energy but there are increasing issues around the security and the affordability of energy. This is most apparent in the social housing sector, where the increasing cost of energy will inevitably plunge millions of homes deeper into fuel poverty. The lowest income homes will be most affected and of these, residents living with electric night storage heating, will find bills increasing disproportionally.

Building fabric improvements should always be explored first to minimise the requirement for heat. However, to really tackle the problem, the switch to renewable heat also needs to be considered. Kensa's solution is to use ground source heat pumps connected to a shared ground array. This solution will provide the lowest cost of renewable heating, reducing energy cost to residents but also significantly reducing carbon emissions as the system gathers three-quarters of the energy from the ground via closed-loop boreholes, providing greater energy security.

By installing individual heat pumps within each dwelling, the need for heat metering and billing is removed. The heat pump is connected to the individual properties electric supply, meaning all heat is billed directly and the resident is free to shop around for the lowest cost energy supply. Simplifying the billing of heat in this way ensures the running cost to the end-user is as low as possible and also leaves them in complete control of their energy costs.

When replacing storage heaters, we not only see a significant reduction in the cost of heating but providing a full central heating system also significantly improves the comfort and control of heating within the dwelling. This contributes to resident well-being and can also help to reduce building services issues associated with underheated homes.

To expand further on the benefits of switching to ground source heat pump technology, Kensa ran a series of regional webinars where we discussed the solution in detail and provided advice based on our experience and how to develop projects from concept to business case approval and deployment. Catch up on Kensa's series.