Heat Network
A 5th generation heat network distributes ambient temperature water around the community in underground pipes with heat pumps on individual homes drawing heat energy from the network.
How It Works
Increased Efficiency
More efficient than traditional heat pumps
Government Grants
Heat networks can attract government-funded, which would be required to offset the extra capital costs
Community Committment
Would likely need a % of the community to commit to the heat network to reach critical mass
A 5th generation heat network distributes ambient temperature water, via underground pipes, to individual homes, where heat pumps extract heat energy from the water to heat the home.
The heat in the water can come from a number of sources similar to other heat pump systems, such as ground or water sources. Potentially the water temperature can be boosted by taking heat from other sources, for example, sewage, which has a lot of warm water in it from baths, showers, washing machines etc.
A heat network isn’t necessarily contiguous, it could have separate sections each with its own water sources which may be a lower cost than one big network.
It may be possible to combine digging so one set of trenching could be used for both a heat network and say fibre broadband to share the cost and maximise the benefit – MAYBE a way for Somerford Keynes to also get Gigaclear broadband?
Most likely this would need a government grant to cover some of the upfront capital costs for the shared infrastructure and a % of the community to sign up.