Electric
space heating equipment
Space Airconditioning plc - Ideal Home Show asks for Space Air
A regular participant at the Ideal Home
Show, this year Space Air worked closely with Show House Village
designers, Lynch Architects. The ‘Courtyard House’, jointly
sponsored by Stewart Milne and Space Air, featured a heat pump
based ‘multi-split’, heating and cooling, climate control system
with 2 purposes; to demonstrate the benefits of residential air
conditioning, and to keep the estimated 160,000 visitors cool as
they walked around the show home. The Jeld-Wen / Marks and
Spencer sponsored ‘Country House’ incorporated a static display
of the ‘Altherma’, a new, renewable energy, air source heat
pump, space heating and hot water system.
With air conditioning, now a common feature in offices, shops,
restaurants, hotels and our cars, it is hardly surprising that
homeowners are also considering its welcome benefits, even given
our relatively short summers here in the UK.
There is a school of thought, which suggests that increasing
residential air conditioning will place an unwanted burden on
electricity supplies in the summer months, with a consequential
rise in environmentally harmful carbon emissions. However it
should be acknowledge that modern air conditioning (or climate
control) systems are based on “reverse cycle heat pump
technology”, classified among a number of environmentally
beneficial, renewable, low to zero carbon technologies. An
important factor, which acknowledges that this equipment not
only provides instant and highly controllable comfort cooling in
the summer but also instant heating in the colder months, at
operating efficiencies well in excess of conventional heating
systems.
Government figures state that gas, oil and direct electric space
heating systems currently represent the highest proportion of
residential energy consumption (61%) and as a consequence the
highest proportion in term of carbon emissions. Heat pump based
air conditioning systems provide a much needed opportunity to
substantially reduce these emissions by aprox 60% compared with
direct electric, 28% compared with mains gas and 47% compared
with oil fired systems. These potential carbon emissions
advantages far outway the additional impact of the limited
periods where the equipment would operate in cooling mode.
When it comes to energy consumption relating to both home
heating and hot water, government figures put the UK Residential
total at a staggering 84%. Clearly, changing to low energy light
bulbs and switching off electrical appliances helps, but if we
are to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of our homes,
we really should re-think the way we heat our homes and hot
water. Air source heat pumps offer a solution that would be
foolish to disregard.
Email:
marketing@spaceair.co.uk