Paul Smith, Commercial Director at Carrier shares his viewpoint on a Circular London, and the importance tackling the environmental impact of heating.

Tackling the environmental impact of heating, especially in densely populated areas, is key to meeting the UK’s 2050 net zero targets. Reusing waste heat from industry to warm local businesses and homes could bring considerable reductions in carbon emissions and lower energy costs. 

A fitting example of how it is possible to harness the power of waste heat is our project with E.ON to decarbonise the Citigen district heating energy centre in the city of London. 

 

This award-winning project uses three Carrier AquaForce® 61XWHZE high-temperature heat pumps, which operate on hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) R-1234ze refrigerant, extracting thermal energy from water pumped from deep boreholes in the aquifer 200 metres beneath the capital. The heat pumps also harness waste heat from the existing combined heat and power plant that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. 

 

This project is ground-breaking in a number of areas, particularly in its use of ultra-low global warming potential (GWP) HFO refrigerant and parallel harnessing of energy from groundwater and waste heat from the power generation unit. We believe it could become an important model for how to decarbonise heat networks in the future, as the UK seeks to achieve the net zero targets set for 2050.