BetaTalk - The Renewable Energy and Low Carbon Heating Podcast

Send us a textGas prices have risen. This is having a dramatic effect on the poor. Nathan discusses the sorry state of ECO, the Energy Companies Obligation and how boilers have been installed in such a way that the heating systems in the homes of the fuel poor are not as efficient as they should be. Is anyone to blame? Is anyone researching this?To listen to the bonus episodes, including one coming shortly on how radiators are sized correctly for your home please sign up Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textIn an experimental podcast episode Nathan chats to his friend and world renowned Michael Liebreich who hosts the Cleaning Up podcast. It is a dual podcast and will go out on BetaTalk and Cleaning Up. You can even watch it here on YouTubeNathan and Michael discuss how we have the technology for low carbon heating but lack the skills to implement it. As an expert on finance Michael touches on the fact that investment money is there ready and waiting. If you would like to hear extra bonus episodes please sign up to our patreon site to help support us. Thank you and enjoy the showSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textPlanning permission and planning allocation are complex topics and Nathan invited along his friend Rico Wojtulewicz, the head of housing and policy at the National Federation of Builders, for a chat about how the planning process hinders the uptake of low carbon heating technology such as heat pumps.A fantastic episode where Nathan learns new terms and concepts such asOpen SpacesLocal Development OrderReserved MattersBiodiversity Net GainCall for SightsSubdivision of large sitesHousingDelivery Test  The National Federation is similar yet different to the Home Builders Federation where you will find the big developers such as Barret Homes.The NFB has around 1200 menbers of which about 400 are exclusively house builders. These are made up of the SME's who like to deliver a good product. Take a listen to this interesting episodeSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textNathan was joined by a very special guest on the first episode of a new season sponsored by the Heat Geek Team. Nathan has been trying to help the heating industry realise there needs to be a paradigm shift in the way we train people. Many people are  now involved in the training and education discourse, but unfortunately they have little understanding around the science of learning. So, for this episode, Nathan interviews one of the world's leading experts on the subject Nick Shackleton Jones. Nick has worked for Siemens , the BBC and BP and has his own consultancy. Nathan studies the science of learning himself and you will enjoy hearing them discuss psychologists such as Piaget, Vygotsky and Bowlby. There is even a bit of Plato.Education and learning are two completely distinct things and in fact education gets in the way of learning. We possibly won't break the paradigm of the whole of education but now the world needs to decarbonise can the heating and renewable industry reshape how people learn? In this episode we also hear Nick discuss his affective context model, which is his general theory of learningAre we training all the heating engineers we need for the energy transition the right way or are we sticking to convention? Nick has en excellent book which you can find here. It is Nathan's favourite book on the subject of learning. Enjoy the showYou can find a discount code to the heat geek course hereSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textCorrosion is a big problem in wet central heating systems. The water within the heating system is the cheapest yet regarded as the most important component. Unfortunately, it's perhaps the least understood and often neglected.Many boiler breakdowns are caused by corrosion and in a transition to heat pumps we will need to be careful about water quality.Nathan chats to his good friend Ricky from Thoroughflush and Simon from elexion about VDI2035.VDI2035 is a German standard for water quality and unlike the BS7593 (2019) it understands the importance of system design.Simon explains how in the commercial sector, where heating equipment is very expensive, it is vital to have a good water quality regime. elexion is known for understanding how to condition water using a non chemical method and they were recently involved with the new update to BG50 (BSRIA) which is the bible of water quality used in the industry.The methods Simon and Ricky uses to test and condition water are now being used in the domestic sector and many of the engineers Nathan has on his show now use this chemical free method to protect heating systems from corrosion.The method relies on removing the salts and minerals from the fill water which reduces the conductivity of the water and helps slow down the process of corrosion, especially if too much oxygen is getting into the system. This demineralisation process uses ionic exchange. The good news is, if your water tests for low conductivity, good system design (such as the use of a deaeration device) can be all you needIf you are a housing association, university or a Local Authority and you are interested in learning more about water quality contact BetaTeach at learn@betateach.co.uk as Simon and Nathan are able to offer some training around this area.Some nice science in this episode such as cations and anions, the positive and negative ions found in our tap water such as calcium carbonate.  Like measuring heat loss is so important when working out the design of a heating system, measuring the conductivity and pH of the fill water is also extremely beneficial and can lead to the correct strategy for water quality control. Enjoy the episodeSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textNathan chats to a good friend of the podcast, Guy Newey, about decarbonising our homes and heatingGuy is Director of Strategy and Performance at the Energy Systems Catapult - (sponsor of season 3 of BetaTalk) He was the Energy Adviser to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Greg Clark and Special Advisor to former Energy Secretary Amber Rudd. He has also worked as Head of Policy at OVO, one of the UK's energy suppliers, and was Head of Environment and Energy at think tank Policy Exchange.The episode discusses the work at the Energy System Catapult and some of the challenges for home owners. But Nathan and Guy are interested in the business model Heat as a Service or otherwise known as Comfort as a Service. These models can be beneficial to homeowners as well as incentivise innovation, efficient energy use and a race to the top rather than the bottom in the heating sector. Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textNathan has a conversation with industry veteran Bob Beattie about air to air heat pumps which have been heating and cooling us for many years outside of our homes.Bob and Nathan discuss mini splits, multi splits and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems (otherwise known as variable refrigerant volume VRVOften, discussions around heat pumps in the media only concentrate on air to water heat pumps e.g. air source heat pumps which transfer heat to a wet system such as underfloor or radiator circuits or ground source heat pumps which transferor heat energy to wet heating systems.Air to air heat pump systems are very efficient and will work well in some domestic situations. They also provide heat removal from a room otherwise known as comfort cooling and often called air conditioning.Enjoy the episode and please share on social media and with friends and work associates Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textNathan speaks with his season 4 sponsors Sero and the Welsh Government Optimised Retrofit ProgrammeCheck out what the team all look like here https://youtu.be/vLsZNO9UPuACall to action for installers and SME's https://www.optimised-retrofit.wales/partners-procurement-sme/More info on Sero https://sero.group/press-room/sero-sets-the-standard-for-delivering-zero-carbon-homes/Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textThe long awaited strategy was out this week and Nathan had the chance to chat with Matthew who heads up the electrification team.BEIS have worked hard to pull this strategy together which is bound to please some and perplex others. The boiler upgrade scheme is hot topic and "heat pumps" trended the day of the announcement.  Take a listen on the BetaTalk PodcastSupport the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

Send us a textWe chat with Kim from the Heat Academy. Kim was asked to help train the supervisors of a large plumbing and heating company who install the heating on large developments (New Builds). He was shocked that in this case it seemed the boiler manufacturer had designers specifying heating systems that will not work very well with modern boilers. Heating system design is critical in this energy transition...does it help if the manufacturers are not fully understanding heating design themselves? Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky