The battle to sell replacements for gas boilers, likely to be unavailable new in the relatively near future (2030?) in the UK, is on. As this microwave option appears we ask what, if anything, is wrong with existing electric boilers? Needless to say, anything electric can’t be more ‘low carbon’ than its electricity source, which is usually 40-60% gas in the UK. But using electricity for heating water instead of making hydrogen has some logic to it.
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A new heating technology has emerged from under the radar as a potential alternative to both heat pumps and gas boilers in the quest for low carbon heating, reports H&V News.
Heat Wayv, a UK energy technology company, has unveiled the world’s first microwave boiler intended as a zero-emissions replacement for gas boilers, with a view to the phase-out of natural gas in new-build homes from 2025.
The company originally developed the microwave technology as a portable cooking device for military use and has now applied it to the heating of water.
Co-founder Phil Stevens said: “The end of the [natural] gas boiler is inevitable and scheduled. But the proposed replacement technologies do not work for consumers as they are either too expensive to install or too expensive to run. We looked for a clean technology where the boiler would cost the consumer the same to buy, same to install and same to run as a gas boiler.”
Mr Stevens and co-founder Paul Atherton believe that it can provide a lower-cost and simpler alternative to heat pumps for use in new-build homes, while at the same time being straightforward to fit in existing homes.
This they believe gives the technology a dual advantage over gas boilers – its lack of carbon monoxide emissions and electric power make it a compelling option for boiler replacement now, while ultimately it offers a more practical and lower cost alternative to the hydrogen grid, currently being proposed.
Mr Atherton said: “We believe this technology offers a more practical solution than hydrogen, with considerably less investment than the billions hydrogen will cost, but even if the hydrogen grid does become a reality, for the next 30 years or however long it takes this is a perfect bridging technology.”
The company is in advanced talks with housebuilders to trial the technology in a real-world setting next year, and then to optimise it with a plan to sell the boilers through wholesalers in 2024.
The concept brings with it a host of claimed benefits beyond its plug and play installation: it is 96% efficient; it is silent in operation; installers can be trained on a half-day course and as it is largely based on solid-state components, it is low in maintenance, so will be offered with a ten-year warranty.
Continued here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
April 11, 2021 at 04:12AM
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