BetaTalk - The Renewable Energy and Low Carbon Heating Podcast

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Nathan sat down to chat all things heat pumps and training with Clayton Brown from CB Heating.

EDF acquired CB Heating back in 2022 which is one of the largest heat pump installation entities in the UK. 

EDF’s strategic investment and partnership with CB Heating have supported the development of the HPIN Academy. This academy provides free training to upskill engineers at every level in the UK.

The episode also discusses the recent partnership between Ideal Heating, a group Atlantic company, who manufacture and supply heat pumps.

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Heat pumps move energy from and energy source e.g. air, ground water (hence they are called :air source, ground source) to a sink.

The sink is the emitter system within a home e.g. radiators, underfloor heating (UFH) and fan coils.

Engineers, Installers, designers and the occupants of a home rely on radiators having accurate power output data. Unfortuanlty, it looks like their is a big problem in the radiator industry: the published power outputs are being over stated.

This has huge consequences for heat pump systems which rely on designers designing a heat pump system which can operate at the lowest possible design temperature.

Higher flow temperature to radiators requires the heat pump's compressor to work harder an use more electricity, resulting in more demand on the grid and higher fuel bills for the customer.

Rob Nezard from UK Radiators has spotted a problem across the whole of the radiator supply chain and created a video to prove this. Nathan went to visit Rob (watch on youtube) to discuss the problem 

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In this episode Nathan chats to Paul Eastwood, Head of Energy Systems Planning at OFGEM and the past Senior Climate and Energy Advisor at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Also joining the heat pump conversation is engineer Barry Sharpe from Renewable Heat  

The discussion focuses on what an ideal customer journey is. Paul has had a heat pump system after Nathan recommended Barry to him. The episode questions if Paul's experience could have been better with the hope engineers may gain some useful insight. 

Topics covered are:

• Heat loss assessments and independent assessments.
• Securing quotes for heat pump installations
• Install options
• Heat pump controls and operations
• Heat pump servicing
• Why do heat pump installs cost more than boiler installations

This was one of Nathan's favourite recordings and he would like to note that Paul is speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of any employer. 

Please enjoy the episode.

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Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

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Nathan chats to Barry Sharpe from Renewable Heat, Emma Bohan from IMS Heat Pumps and Steve Webster from EGE Energy about the MCS hybrid consultation, heat pump training as well as glycol and anti-freeze valves.

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Sweden have had a long tradition with heating technologies and have incredible expertise regarding heat pumps. 

Nathan talks to the Swedish company AIRA, the new entrant to the UK's heating and home renewables industry. 

AIRA will be installing heat pump and other technologies across Europe bringing their expertise first to Italy, Germany and the UK.

It's a great episode and Nathan enjoyed his conversation with Daniel Sarefjord, the chief executive of Aira in the UK, immensely. 

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Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

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As the title states, you are a very special group of people to me. You listen to me ramble on about heating for a start and I am very grateful for that.. So, thank you. I appreciate that very much.

This is the first episode of 2024 and I wanted to do something a bit special. Something for you.

As you know, this podcast is called BetaTALK... and the talk aspect is very important. In order to help accelerate the mainstream adoption of transitional heating technologies we first need people to start talking about them. We need to get people talking about heating in a positive and fun way. So how do we do that?

This is something I care about and I know this is something you care about too. You care about getting people to talk about heating. But it's challenging.

So, to help you,  Lawrence and I have developed a tool. It's a practical tool and it will  engender conversations around heating.

It's new, it's fun, and it's very quirky.

Take a listen and meet my partner Lawrence... together we have started up Jouln  

As well as home owner listeners if you are associated with Local Authorities, Social Housing Groups, construction companies and even energy suppliers and interested in Digital Twins /artificial intelligence and how  they can help you then please contact us at [email protected]


Once again, thank you for being part of something special.

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Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

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Season 9 is sponsored by Grundfos and in this episode Nathan speaks to James  Twallin about the software and codes behind the heating industry. 

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In this episode Nathan chats to Paul Spence, a very competent and highly regarded heating engineer. Paul installs a range of heating system types including heat pumps.

It's a long but highly interesting episode. If you want to hear Paul's credentials first skip to around the 1hr 05 min mark... and then come back to the beginning of course.

Paul also runs the facebook group HeatPumps UK...check it out

Enjoy!

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Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

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Here is the link to the heat pump installer survey (lot's of prizes to be won)


In this episode Nathan speaks with Glyn Hudson and Trystan Lea who along with open source enthusiasts have created open energy monitor and heat pump monitor.

Heat pump installers and consumers are installing monitoring equipment such as heat meters onto their heat pump systems to obtain COP readings. COP stands for the coefficient of performance.

The monitoring has provided the oppotunity for engineers and home owners to learn from each other about what works what doesn't work. 

Arguably, other monitoring schemes (which cost the tax payer money) have caused a headache to the energy transition movement because such studies were using incompetent installation companies to put these heating systems in. This has meant a low COP average which the fossil fuel industry loves to allude to.  

These schemes have not shed much, if any, data on system design so no one has really learned anything from them. 

Conversely, this platform has engendered a hive of learning with engineers not only being able to learn from each other but also being able to validate their competence to prospective customers.  

It's a great episode...take a listen

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Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

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Nathan speaks with Sandra Trittin, co-founder of tiko Energy Solutions and co-host of the podcast Talking New Energy from LCP Delta. 

Joining Sandra is Talking New Energy's other host Jon Slow partner at LCP Delta.

The discussion centres around how we may be able to heat pumps, batteries and EVs as as virtual power plants to increase the  flexibility of the grid .

Take a listen

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Learn more about heat pump heating by following
Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky