BetaTalk - The Renewable Energy and Low Carbon Heating Podcast

Send us a textI really enjoyed this episode chatting with Andrew Middleton, Managing Director at British Gas Zero and Steve Petrie, regional manager at British Gas Zero who also is a former British Gas engineer. I brought along for the ride my friend Adam Gilhespy from Carno to help me host the conversation as he also is a former British Gas engineer and like Andrew  understands strategy and processes. For anyone who knows my podcast I started it so on the ground engineers could have a more amplified voice. Unfortunately, in the energy discourses I'm privileged to be a part of these days the coal face engineers are not always being listened too.It is why it was refreshing when Andrew reached out and asked if he could come chat with us on the podcast. Andrew is one of my listeners and openly admits he has found it extremely useful to listen and learn from the engineers I have had on the show. Enjoy the showSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textRecycled refrigerant and Energy Performance Declarations are discussed in this episode alongside the wider discussion around whole life carbon and the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.Nathan's guests are:Ryan Philp, the Business Development Manager at Daikin Ellie Burkill, Energy Sustainability Consultant at XCO2Sara Godinho, Associate at XCO2To hear what Daikin are doing with recycled refrigerant skip to 1 hour 2 mins... a link is provided in the chapters tabSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textThe BetaTalk podcast speaks to friends at Kensa about their approach to using heat pump technology for domestic heating.Nathan and Wouter Thijssen, MD at Kensa Contracts, explain 5th generation heat networks (known as ambient loop) and how they are different to other types of district heating.For more info about the  check out the links belowITV NEWS Financial TimesBBCSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textFantastic guests and a fantastic episode which digs deep into the Energy Performance Certificate. Nathan is joined by Madhuban Kumar, CEO of Carbon Laces; Stuart Fairlie, MD of Elmhurst Energy and Marcus Shepheard from the Climate Change Committee  Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textLots of frustration among gas engineers. Do we value the work they have been doing for so long? They are an incredibly important sector of the heating community as we will be relying on them for the transition.Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textThis is the 100th episode so a big thank you to all the listeners and all those who have taken part.BIG THANK YOU TO MyEnergi who are this season's sponsorIt features European policy expert Louise Sunderland from the RAPUK policy and innovation expert Guy Newy from Energy Systems Catapult (past sponsor of the podcast)AND expert heating engineer  Welsy Hort from West Hampstead Plumbing and Heating. Wesly is one of the renowned BetaTalk #heatarchitects - leading heating engineers who are helping other heating engineers learn.This episode is fantastic and discusses the recent heat pump installs Wesley did for both Guy and Louise. Both Guy and Nathan have a passion for post install monitoring and Nathan is involved in a BEIS funded Heat Pump Ready project which has a focus on monitoring.  Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textMark from the architectural practice LEAP discusses with Nathan airtightness, ventilation, thermal comfort and passivhaus.Questions arise such as should more loft insulation be put in and how windows ideally should be fitted.A few papers are mentioned and the links can be found here:Passivhaus Secrets (Free Documentary Case Studies)Passivhaus TrainingThermal Bypass RisksSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textMeasuring Heat pump system design with Brendon from HeacolLink to slides for the test can be found hereTHE TEST RIGBrendon discusses how he first designed the test rig with Ulster University  for testing the heat pump he had built which is specifically adapted for UK climate, the UK's building stock and how the homes in the UK are commonly heated e.g. a combi boiler.When RHI was first introduced, it required heat pumps to have costly certification and sadly Brendon's heat pump had to be put on the back burner... after all, Brendon is extremely busy installing heat pumps for people and has been putting heat pumps in for many years. (Note, if you are an investor in innovation you'd do well to contact Brendon to discuss this heat pump)The test rig uses a 500L thermal store to simulate the internal of a property "it's got inertia, it's got thermal capacity and it's got buffer " A plate heat exchanger connecting the thermal store to the heat pump simulates a radiator system which can have temps and flow rates changed. Brendon describes how this set up is able to run different testing than the excellent Energy House at Salford University and benefit from quick responses to different heating stratagies and scenarios.  TESTING SYSTEM DESIGN testing a heat pump system with 3rd party controls and buffer tanktesting a heat pump system with weather compensation and buffer tanktesting a heat pump system with weather compensation and no buffer tank e.g. open zone or what has been called direct in the test which can be found hereThe test simulated a house with an 11.5kW heat load.With the first test the heat pump had to run at 50 degree Celsius flow to maintain an internal temp of 21 degrees.In the second test the flow temp dropped to 45d.The final test, with open zone system, no buffer and controlled with manufactures wether compensation controls only required a flow temp coming from the heat pump of 35 degrees CSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textWe chat to Szymon from Urban Plumbers who is now installing heat pumps to get a glimpse into that journey. Szymon has a great YouTube channel which you can find hereSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textNathan chats with Tarik Bellahcene from the European Heat Pump Association about KeymarkSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky