Comment
Green Street
Environmental groups have been building up the pressure for this weeks COP26 conference in Glasgow – with Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion amongst others 'stepping on the gas'. The Government has also been chipping in with plans to force the country to switch, en-masse, to heat pumps within the next so many years, amongst a number of other sustainable measures.
These are piffling measures when arraigned against the total global demand for action but illustrate the dilemma of sacrificing personal comfort and responsibility for the good of humanity. At a personal level, practicalities come into it, as well. The cost of insulating the nation's housing stock is immense, and heat pumps are not particularly effective in old draughty houses. The cost of installing them is beyond the financial capabilities of many homeowners, or even landlords leasing large blocks of apartments.
An interesting solution is being showcased in Glasgow at COP26 – on Green Street, of all places! The inner city street is being brought to life by augmented reality to show a networked ground source heat pump solution that mimics the current gas network to deliver a solution to multiple properties. The solution shifts responsibility from consumers getting rid of their gas boilers and installing individual infrastructure for ground source heat pumps on an ad-hoc house-by-house basis, to the pre-installation of utility-scale underground infrastructure that allows consumers to easily and cheaply change to ground source heat pumps when they're ready.
Such systems will be run by energy and water companies and local authorities, and as Simon Lomax, CEO of Kensa, the only UK manufacturer of ground source heat pumps and producer of the AR showcase, said: "It isn’t possible to reach critical mass or secure the cost reductions expected by government by adopting a house-by-house approach, placing responsibility to deliver our climate targets on individuals."
Kensa Group is a finalist at the 2021 Ashden Awards for Climate Innovation for a groundbreaking renewable heating upgrade project with Together Housing. The winners of this prestigious award will be announced at COP26.
Going into Print. I have a book which is currently being self-published. It will be available within a couple of weeks, or so.
The Digital Burp – a Guide to Artificial Intelligence for Human Beings. Co-authored by David Chadwick and SAVI 23/18, a semi-autonomous vehicle. It looks at the relationship between human and artificial intelligence and machine learning, with a 'tongue-in-cheek' political backstory. You can buy it on my website – theqb.co.uk
David Chadwick
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