We need to talk about heat consuming 51% of global energy
More than half our energy is spent on staying warm. With this in mind, we take a look at a new solar innovation which delivers renewable power and heat on-site at the same time, slashing emissions and shrinking footprints for commercial and industrial buildings
Electrification is understandably an environmental priority. According to National Grid, UK and US demand is expected to increase 50% by 2036 and double by 2050 as cars, buses, planes, data centres and pretty much everything else that switches on plug in.
But according to Christophe Williams, there’s another end of energy use which remains widely overshadowed by the bigger, more visual story. Behind the scenes, in the walls and boiler rooms, 51% of all power generated across the planet is spent on heating. Worse still, renewables only fuel around 10% of that usage, compared to 30% of total energy consumption.
CEO of Naked Energy, we’re speaking to Williams about two things – the need to rapidly decarbonise heating, and the VirtuPVT technology his company is developing. This unique system is capable of converting solar into both electricity and heat simultaneously, offering a potential four-fold efficiency saving compared with traditional PV solar panels.
‘A huge swathe of heat demand is actually relatively low temperature. Heat below 100 Celsius, so you can use the sun to do that,’ he says, explaining Naked Energy has developed ‘a unique range of solar collectors’ accompanied by digital tools, which can monitor performance in commercial and industrial applications. The system can therefore be tailored to the specific site.
Residential use is currently some time off, but that’s because the market itself is ‘very fragmented’ and complex to enter, rather than technological limitations. Instead, Naked Energy’s business model currently focuses on year-round operations with consistent heating needs. This, we’re told, can improve energy costs in two scenarios – organisations going full-electric, and migrating from fossil fuels, and those in a kind of net zero halfway house. For example, using a gas boiler and heat pump.
‘It’s kind of a complimentary technology, you don’t have to choose one or the other,’ Williams continues. ‘Heat pumps are an alternative on their own, but only about a third of the grid is renewable at the moment. So they’re not really powered renewably, and they increase demand on the grid itself.’
While shortfalls with other technologies present a gap in the market, Naked Energy’s performance is also impressive. Hot water can be delivered up to 120 degrees once it reaches temperature the system acts like a thermos. Temperatures can be held for several days, cutting the significant amount of energy needed to warm water from cold. Traditional sources can then supplement shortfalls if and when demand for hot water peaks.
At the same time, electricity is also being produced through a different process, in either AC or DC. Essentially it’s now technically possible to run every element of a site’s HVAC, alongside lighting and other power needs, entirely from solar. The only limitation is the size of a roof or are on which panels are mounted. The larger the space, the more capacity there is to produce power.
‘We’ve delivered more than 100 systems into nine countries, and they’re working well,’ says Williams. ‘The oldest one is at Swansea University, and we put the system on a vertical facade. So it’s quite a big array, and this made the building the UK’s first energy positive office. It produces 25MWh of energy for every 21 consumed.’
He’s also quick to point out that a key win is the ability to ‘flatten the curve’ on energy use, eliminating the big differences in consumption between summer and winter. This makes it easier to budget, predict costs and forecast for future expenditure, with organisations potentially able to achieve a 40-50% reduction in the use of energy from the grid.
‘The number one thing we need to do is reduce energy demand, then fill in the gaps. But insulation is expensive because the UK has relied on cheap North Sea gas for so long rather than building efficient homes,’ Williams tells us. ‘So our priority should be a massive overhaul of building fabric.
‘For example bringing 26million residential buildings up to standards which are currently considered energy inefficient,’ he continues. ‘But this is hard, so we are electrifying everything, which is sexier and drives more headline – big solar farms, windmills, nuclear. And if we are doing that, we need solutions.’
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Image: Naked Energy