Once a business has addressed energy demand reduction through, for example, efficient lighting and controls, heat control optimisation and reducing heat loss, attention naturally turns to generation technologies.
For many, this starts and stops at rooftop solar PV. It is cost effective, accessible, familiar and easy to integrate. The issue though for a business aiming to reduce carbon emissions though is that for many, emissions from heating fuel can far outweigh those from electricity.
Decarbonising heat is one of the key challenges of reaching Net Zero Carbon.
Our Government have decreed that Heat Pumps are the answer to this challenge. Whilst there is some merit in this, as we’ve explained before, a heat pump is not a form of ‘renewable energy’. It is an efficient form of electrical heating. If the electricity for that heat pump comes from a zero carbon source, then one can claim zero carbon heating. If it is powered from the standard grid mix, then it is ‘lower carbon’.
What a heat pump won’t provide is high temperature heat or steam for process or traditional heat emitters. So, what are the low / zero carbon options?
Biogas
PepsiCo have backed Biogas as a key technology for decarbonising heat within it’s operation. A biogas generator (also called an Anaerobic Digester) is a simple and well proven technology which takes biomass waste (food/ beverage production waste, animal /slaughterhouse waste for example) and converts it into methane gas. This gas is chemically the same as mains gas, and can therefore be used as such in traditional gas boilers. We have been involved with a company on Worcestershire who will shortly be using their biogas to power tractors, and ultimately, HGVs.
Wood fuelled boilers
Wood chip or pellet fuelled boilers do exactly the same job as a gas or oil fired boiler for providing medium or high temperature water and even steam. As explored in a previous blog, wood fuel offers carbon savings of around 95% compared to fossil fuel. The technology lends itself very well to heating networks – where a central boiler heats multiple premises on, for example, an industrial estate. Here at the CTBG team, we have been involved in wood fuelled boilers for businesses over the last 20 years – hotels, nursing homes, offices, and manufacturing processes.
Conclusion
Until they start to measure carbon, many businesses will install rooftop solar PV and imagine that’s ‘job done’ for sustainability. In reality though, that’s just the start.
For businesses in the food chain, biogas can be a viable technology, if they generate significant quantities of biomass waste.
Wood fuelled boilers are flexible and can be technically and financially viable for many businesses, especially those reliant on heating oil or bulk LPG.
Other solutions coming down the line include liquid biomass fuel (similar to biodiesel) but this is not widespread yet.
Decarbonising heating will remain a challenge for business. It’s possible, but will require a more imaginative and informed approach.
Ewan Bent, 29 June ,23
