ResponsibleBusiness
Pump it up
Companies like hardware chain Screwfix and housing developer Redrow are turning to heat pumps to reduce their carbon footprint
KEY POINTS
Screwfix, Redrow and Historic England have begun using heat pumps in their operations
Heat pumps can be up to three times as efficient than typical gas boilers
However, as they are powered by electricity, their costs remain similar to gas boilers
Hardware chain Screwfix, housing developer Redrow and Historic England have all begun exploring how heat pumps can improve their sustainability position and cost bases. Here, we look at their progress with the technology.
Eliminating carbon emissions
As of June 2023, Screwfix has installed 560 air source heat pumps across its trade counters and contact centre so far. Air source heat pumps replace the need for fossil fuel gas or oil heating with heating powered by 95% renewable electricity. Nine Screwfix stores, its head office, business centre, and most of its distribution centres also have solar panels installed.
In 2022, the company started using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel in its logistics fleet. HVO is a renewable replacement for diesel, sourced from certified re-used providers. This can reduce a journey’s carbon emissions by up to 90%.
Reducing and recycling waste
More than 99.9% of Screwfix’s waste has been diverted from landfill every year since 2018, with the remaining waste either being recycled by material, or incinerated if recycling is not possible.
In 2022/23, 81% of its waste was recycled into new materials. The remaining 19% was incinerated. When the waste is incinerated, the heat generated is captured and used to provide additional electricity.
WHAT SCREWFIX IS STILL WORKING ON
Screwfix is continuing to install air source heat pumps at every new store it opens, as well as retrofitting as many existing stores with air source heat pumps as it can. It also continues to increase the proportion of its delivery fleet powered by lower carbon fuels.
Screwfix says it uses too much paper as a business and is working to reduce its reliance on printing.
So far, it has eliminated millions of sheets of printing by turning off duplicated receipts in stores, removing A4 receipts from home deliveries and making till receipts optional. It aims to become a paper-free operation.
Redrow builds houses with heat pumps as standard
In January this year, housing developer Redrow announced it was shifting away from traditional gas boilers in favour of heat pumps in all its housing developments. The FTSE 250 firm said it will install green technology across its developments nationwide. The builder is working in partnership with Mitsubishi, Vaillant and Daikin for installation, with each offering their own training centre and facilities for installers to ensure a smooth transition from gas boilers.
It follows a heat pump trial, where Mitsubishi tracked a customer’s experience of living with a heat pump over a year, monitoring usage to compare energy consumption for heating and hot water against a benchmark home with a traditional gas boiler.
The results showed that heat pumps consumed significantly less energy than gas boilers, operating at an efficiency of around two to three times that of an A-rated boiler. Currently, Redrow’s homes benefit from a 10% reduction in heat loss compared to its previous builds and are 63% more efficient than homes built in the 1970s. It is now looking to air source heat pumps to further increase the efficiency of its homes.
Redrow announced it was shifting away from traditional gas boilers in favour of heat pumps
Historic England retrofits sites
It’s not just new builds which are benefitting from the efficiencies of heat pumps. Historic England has also been exploring the possibilities of retrofitting many of its sites with heat pumps. The ground source heat pump at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings demonstrates that centuries-old buildings can also adapt to use sustainable energy sources.
The site has eight listed buildings. The Grade I listed Main Mill, built in 1797, was the world’s first iron-framed building and paved the way for modern skyscrapers. The restoration of the Main Mill and the Grade II listed Kiln was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The ground source heat pump system has been designed to provide an estimated 69% of energy usage for the Main Mill and Kiln, with the remainder provided by a natural gas boiler. The floor area is 3,999m². The heat pump reduces carbon emissions associated with space heating by an estimated 46%, from 45 tonnes to 23 tonnes per year.
The heat pump extracts heat from the ground via 10 vertical boreholes at a depth of 187 metres. These are underneath the line of the former Shrewsbury and Newport Canal towpath.
Heat pumps: the facts
HOW DO HEAT PUMPS WORK?
A heat pump is an electrically-powered device which absorbs heat from the air, ground or water around a building. Air-source pumps suck in outdoor air and pass it over tubes containing refrigerant fluids to produce heat.
Ground-source heat pumps need much more space outside — either a bore hole as deep as 100m, or a horizontal system dug into the ground over a large area.
WHAT ABOUT THE COST?
Installation is the main hurdle as heat pumps typically cost £10,000 to buy and install. However, they are normally three times more efficient than gas boilers, but they use electricity to run, and electricity prices can be more expensive than gas, so it depends on fossil-fuel energy costs.
However, as utility prices fluctuate over time, it is projected that heat pumps will become the cheapest as well as the lowest carbon form of heating available, according the Energy Saving Trust.
Another appealing trait for heat pumps is the level of maintenance required is significantly lighter touch than boilers. Workmanship warranties for heat pumps can last for up to 10 years, for example. With regular scheduled maintenance, you can expect a heat pump to operate for 15 years or more.
THE SECTOR
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THE CHALLENGE
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THE OUTCOME
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