Summary of the Challenge
Reducing emissions from domestic heating is essential for decarbonisation. Heating the UK’s 28 million homes accounted for 18% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2021. The main source of these emissions is from burning natural gas to heat homes. Reducing this figure forms a key element of both national and regional approaches to meeting net-zero targets.
Decarbonising domestic heating faces a variety of challenges. Locally, low-voltage network limitations can hinder upgrades, especially in areas with multiple properties. Users often worry about the cost and practicality of low-carbon technologies, their suitability for retrofits and different property types, and are unfamiliar with new systems. Additionally there is a significant skills gap in the installation of low-carbon technologies, which is falling short of government targets.
The transition to low-carbon domestic heating presents a significant challenge, but also a great opportunity to address inequalities in home heating. A fair and just transition would ensure that everyone has access to affordable, safe, and sustainable heating solutions, regardless of their income or location. This means that policies and initiatives should be designed to support vulnerable households and communities, who may be disproportionately affected by the costs and disruptions associated with the transition.
Our Response
This project will explore how novel storage (thermal and electrical) and control technologies (hierarchical predictive control) can be integrated with established low-carbon heating methods such as heat pumps. This integrated approach would let users save money and reduce their carbon footprint by taking advantage of time-of-use energy pricing and grid flexibility services. Automated, predictive controls optimise system performance without user intervention.
To put it simply, this integrated heating system could automatically generate or draw electricity when it is plentiful (and cheap) and store it in home batteries for use when energy demand (and costs) are high.
Scaling up these solutions could bring significant regional benefits in cost, carbon reduction, and comfort, while minimising the need for expensive grid upgrades, thus accelerating the energy transition.
The project will be delivered through two work packages which will enable our researchers to build a quantified understanding of the performance of a set of existing and emerging low carbon heating technologies in homes. We will also be able to test technologies at a system level, key to understanding real-world performance and the interaction between different technologies.
Work package 1 will extend an existing laboratory demonstrator to develop multi-vector energy systems for single dwelling home heating systems. This will allow researchers to address specific questions relevant to the technology’s deployment in South Yorkshire, for example evaluating the optimal combination of generation, storage and heating technologies appropriate to South Yorkshire building stock. Specifically, this work package will examine various ways of utilising energy storage - whether thermal to supply space heating and/or hot water demands, or electrical to supply plug loads - and their modes of operation as well as integrating smart control systems.
Work package 2 will set up a community heating demonstrator. Community heating schemes offer a scalable way to decarbonise heating in new and existing buildings, especially dense housing like terraced properties, without the need for individual low-carbon system installations. Heat interface units in each home connect to a central heat hub, minimising disruption, space demands and maintenance for residents while addressing grid connection and energy flexibility challenges. These schemes share characteristics with larger district networks, making them valuable research platforms. For example, whether ambient loop heating technologies designed for communal dwellings could be extended for use within terraced properties.
This project is a timely addition to the centre’s research portfolio. The heat storage and control technology is innovative and addresses some of the concerns relating to low carbon heating systems such as cost, operability and energy grid over-demand . Consultation with partners and stakeholders in the region has also demonstrated an appetite for regional initiatives trialing these technologies to help shape housing decarbonisation policy. This project also links with other SYSC projects considering household energy transitions in our Residential Energy & Transport Systems theme as well as Policy & Governance and Just Transition work packages.
