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In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to pass laws to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Meeting this ambitious target not only requires a shift in energy supply from fossil fuels to low carbon energy sources, but also a reduction in energy demand through the roll-out of energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings. The UK has some of the oldest and most inefficient housing stock in Western Europe and the building sector is responsible for approximately half of energy consumption. The present work has a strong focus on exploring low carbon heat supply tehcnologies could be applied to existing housing stock, using the London Borough of Islington (LBI) as a case study. The applicability of low carbon energy efficiency measures to a range of different building archetype prominent within LBI is discussed and evaluated. The methodology implemented includes both qualitative and quantitative assessment of the opportunities and benefits, with a focus on applicability, cost, and carbon savings associated with two low carbon heat supply options. The overall evaluation approach presented in the paper is applicable to other urban areas in the UK and elsewhere. Key conclusion from the study and planned next steps are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates the opportunity for UK local authorities to utilise waste heat from local industry to accelerate their success with meeting net zero emissions targets. It presents the results of a feasibility study for an urban area in Yorkshire, UK aimed at driving clean growth and decarbonisation in local industry together with investment in low carbon energy systems. This is an ambient loop district heating network design with sharing of heating between buildings and heat recovery from a local industry source, including mine water. This adapts the GreenSCIES concept developed initially for Islington, London, tailored to local council demands and local industry energy sources. The scheme would be based on a low temperature heat network with large, decentralised heat pumps to raise temperatures to that required in the connected buildings/dwellings. The heat source is low-grade waste-heat from a local glassworks which is readily accessible with minimal disruption to 24/7 operations. The scheme considered thermal storage and the integration of a 20MW solar PV farm and a 10MW windfarm. The results show that that it is possible to decarbonise large parts of the borough including their social housing stock. In addition, using old mine workings as a means of storing and recovering heat, allows seasonal storage of heat to act both as back-up and top-up to the heat available from the glassworks. This novel approach uses natural resources and builds on local industry to accelerate economic regeneration paving the way to net zero carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the investigation of heat pumps for GreenSCIES, a 5th Generation heat network in Islington, London. The paper describes the GreenSCIES concept integrating Mobility, Power and Heat into a local energy system. At the heart of the system is a 5th generation heat network, which utilises an ambient heat network to capture secondary heat and share heat between different applications. The GreenSCIES network, technology utilised and buildings connected are described. Heat pumps are used to amplify the temperature of the ambient loop to deliver heat at the required temperature in connected buildings. A number of different heat pumps using different refrigerants and configurations were appraised in this study. This considered the performance, safety, environmental impact, operational and capital expenditure point of view. The study shows the importance of heat pump COP on the economics of operating the system and suggests innovative series arrangements in order to improve performance and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on three recent case studies which have shown encouraging economic results in meeting net-zero carbon emissions targets through Smart Local Energy Systems (SLES) in different localities across England, based on the GreenSCIES model. The blueprint for the GreenSCIES SLES was developed in Islington, London, and consists of a 5th generation ambient loop district heat network using heat from a large data centre, also including electric vehicle charging, storage and solar PV. This allows for heat sharing between buildings and applications for heat recovery from local sources. In Sandwell, Birmingham, where the heating demand is nearly ten times higher than the cooling demand the design is based on a 4th generation heat network with waste heat from a local metal foundry and some cooling supply and heat storage in the aquifer. The design for a study in Barnsley, Sheffield, explored waste heat from a local glass factory and considered old mine workings as a means of storing and recovering heat, providing seasonal storage of heat for resilience to a single source industry. With additional work, the Barnsley scheme could be further expanded, increasing the available carbon emissions savings. These examples provide practical, feasible and economic SLES projects which demonstrate the importance of collaboration between researchers, local government and industry. They also illustrate how the original GreenSCIES concept can be adapted successfully to provide a pathway towards netzero carbon for a diverse range of urban locations with different housing density and waste heat sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]