THIS is How to Speed Up The Heat Pump Rollout

Could a shared network of ground source heat pumps be the solution to decarbonising millions of UK homes? Is the solution literally beneath our feet?
Imogen and the team went to Stithians in Cornwall to talk to Kensa Utilities about their Heat the Streets project and how they’re helping to tackle the climate crisis through networked ground source heat pumps and funded arrays. These networks are being proposed as an alternative to the gas grid for rural and urban areas across the UK.
To find out more about the project - heatthestreets...
Check out our episode "The Physics of a Heat Pump" - • THIS Is The Future Of ...
0:00 Intro
00:28 How heating is essential to our lives
01:04 Utilising the heat below the ground
01:59 The Heat the Streets project
02:18 What is a ground source heat pump?
02:59 An array of heat pumps
03:55 The infrastructure
04:42 Kensa’s factory
05:26 Challenges during the project
05:56 What does this all mean for the residents?
07:49 Hopes for the future
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#homeenergy #groundsourceheatpump #heating #cleantech #gasfreehome #heatpumps #renewableenergy #sustainability

[@showme360]

Community Solar, Community Wind, and now Community Ground Source Heating. This is how you avoid expensive fossil fuel bills!! Excellent project just wish more could be done like this to demonstrate just how viable these systems are. Good to see a UK Company pioneering this system!!

[@alanmay7929]

Lol!!!! There is not such thing as expensive"fossil fuel" bills! It's the governments that makes everything wrong! Look at Norway they have nationalised their oil industry right from the beginning

[@robfegley1121]

Having installed a private GSHP (Waterfurnace Series 7) here in North Texas back in 2014, we went from 3 systems totaling 7.5 tons (90k BTU), only one of which was an ASHP, to the single 5 ton (60kBTU) system split into 5 zones. The house is 3700 sqft. Because the system is both variable speed compressor and blower and we have the motorized dampers on the plenum for zoning, we are more comfortable year-round (biggest benefit) and honestly save more $ in heating mode than in cooling. Variable speed allows us flexibility to extract humidity by the buckets without having to over-cool any spaces. With all of the ductwork in the attic, we were advised to have all ceiling insulation removed and have open-cell (0.5 lb) foam sprayed into all of the rafters at about 5” thickness. Because the roof area is 6100sf, this added $8k to the cost but leaves the attic as essentially conditioned space, meaning that the R-8 insulation on the flexible ducts is not having to work against 10degF winter air and 130+ degF air in summer. In fact, the insulation change was stated as a mandatory step to getting the system size down to single 5T and that without it we would have had to installed two systems at combined 6-6.5T. Our ground loop is made of 5 vertical boreholes with 1.5” polyethylene pipe in a U-shape, each going down 300 feet, which ties together in a common manifold 3 feet down and comes and goes from the house as a pair of 2” lines of the same pipe. Our loops are filled with tap water which was filtered at the time of install, as glycol mix was not required in our climate. I can only imagine how this would be more prevalent if designed into new subdivisions, using community loops, by the developer from the word go. Well, maybe not in Texas (smh). I am not quite sure why these systems are not mandatory in all new public builds, such as public housing, government buildings, schools, military bases, etc., as such are built and expected to have long-term single ownership.

[@alexlovett1991]

I’ve been saying about these for years at this point. New builds should absolutely be built with this type of system (they’ve already got the ground clear).

[@michaeld5888]

Still using microbore piping which as with all this fledgling technology is either perfectly alright or no use for heat pumps, you takes your choice. The problem with net zero is the politicians have set the dates first in a plethora of idealistic woffle and belatedly thought about how it will work, that is even if they care or understand the problems at all.

[@alanmay7929]

You realize how expensive it is right! Not everyone is going to be able to afford it

[@alexlovett1991]

@@alanmay7929 A significant portion (the majority I believe) of the cost of ground source is the excavation and disruption. On a blank site already full of excavation equipment the cost is significantly lowered. One of the biggest benefits of a community loop is not requiring massive space for a single property, and requiring far fewer boreholes, whilst benefiting from costs of scale. New build houses are already expensive (hundreds of thousands), an extra few thousand on a heat pump is not going to make them unaffordable to the expected buyers.

[@johnway9853]

I installed our own GSHP back in 2010. Paid for itself by around 2016. Have had to replace one blower fan under warranty and had a couple of small failures where wiring connections inside the unit failed but were fixed within a day each time. It can keep our drafty old house warm all the way down to about -15C outside late in the winter, and a little colder early in the winter when the trench temp hasn't been drawn down yet. Provides us with AC all summer, basically for free as it uses the heat from the house to heat our domestic water. Although it required a bit of learning to tackle it myself, but for a confident DIYer it's possible and if we'd gone with a pro install the payback time would have been another 4 or 5 years, I'd still be net positive now.

[@waqasahmed939]

That's surprising that you went for a GSHP instead of an ASHP. I mean the GSHP is very obviously better but the capital costs are also far higher :(

[@johnway9853]

@@waqasahmed939 Yes, capital costs are often prohibitive for most. I was able to do the install myself as there's a supplier in the US that sells kits that can be feasible to do that so it mitigated the cost significantly so the difference wasn't as great as you might think. With the better COP, especially considering what was available in 2010 for ASHP it ended up being a good investment. Of course, one has to be lucky enough to have the land available as well.

[@waqasahmed939]

@@johnway9853 The land is the other issue,yes For me it'd have to be a massive bore hole and I hear that ASHPs are catching up anyway

[@benbrown8258]

The ground source heat pump over an air source heat pump is brilliant! I've an air source heat pump and it can be costly once the outside air dips into the teens (Farhrenheit) It averages out for the year cheaper, but a ground source is miles away a better deal.

[@waqasahmed939]

A better COP perhaps but a better deal? Maybe not, unless it's something like this ie: community ground source heat pump. There is something that people will potentially overlook too. Between March and say November, I'm still using around 310 kWh a month just for showering. That does add up. I think I'd want a waste water heat recovery system for the showers however but still, without that as it stands atm that COP is pretty good for those months at the very least Equally, if you've got an EV, you only really need a COP of around 2 in the winter to break even.

[@bartholomewcubbins9723]

Given the extra cost for a GSHP, I don't think it's a better deal at all. I'd much rather put the money into improving the building envelope, so less heating is needed in the first place.

[@waqasahmed939]

@@bartholomewcubbins9723 Definitely. This is my plan too tbf I'd rather spend the money on making the house more air tight + ventilated, rather than getting a GSHP As it stands, ASHPs are apparently catching up anyway

[@Travis0palzae]

@@waqasahmed939 Wow! You need to replace your standard electric water heater. My heat-pump water heater uses 75 kWh per month. (and barely affects heating in winter and helps cooling in summer in the basement)

[@buckles29]

Excellent project - would be good to see some major house builders pick up on this type of technology for new housing estates. GSHP are even better than ASHP - as pointed out in the episode.

[@JohnR31415]

Particularly when you’re already doing heavy groundwork anyway…

[@Lewis_Standing]

Not sure they are anymore, ASHP get as good performance figures now I think.

[@buckles29]

@@Lewis_Standing I was only referring to the comment made in the video, that GSHP seem slightly better than ASHP. The sooner we move away from the standard installation of a gas boiler to either of these the better in my opinion.

[@kadmow]

@@Lewis_Standing - GSHP "never frosts up" (if the ground exit points are properly lagged), never wastes energy defrosting - sure the lower UK, not such a problem, it never gets 15 below for too long.. (C).

[@philtucker1224]

It’s already a compulsory part of the building regs going forward as new gas installations are now banned from (2026?)…Major house builders don’t get a choice!

[@NeilBlanchard]

We are working towards this here in Massachusetts - it is called Future of Heat. The idea is to convert the natural gas lines to provide a thermal water source - and it allows heat sources (like industries) to share their excess heat - *and* this system can be used for really efficient *cooling* as well. The gas companies are *on board* with this, by the way.

[@philtucker1224]

But that would mean that on a certain day, the gas would be cut of permanently?

[@NeilBlanchard]

@@philtucker1224 We can do everything we do with gas - in other ways, better than we do them with gas. Heating with a water source heat pump, that uses geothermal and/or shared thermal water source - is much better than burning gas. And induction cook stoves are much better than burning gas. What's not to like?

[@sbwende]

Sounds like a fantastic idea

[@counterfit5]

I bet the gas companies are on board so they don't screw up and kill someone again

[@EugeneLambert]

Great to hear about such innovative projects. Well done Kensa UK, and clearly presented by Imogen.

[@darraghfinnan3740]

Well done the EU for paying for it 😂

[@thewordofgog]

My only observation is on the irony of a county that voted to leave the EU getting EU funding for this project

[@roidroid]

ironic observations regarding Brexit are the norm. It was a political populism stunt that NATURALLY bit everyone on the arse. "hey maybe we should learn a lesson from this" - i hope to not hear something like this needed to be quoted within the next several decades at least, pls. WW2 should have been enough thankyou

[@roidroid]

@@andys5841sorry mate, I don't live in your reality

[@patdbean]

1:30 "in partnership with" NOT funded by. There is a lot of difference.

[@geirmyrvagnes8718]

I assume the partnership was decided before the whole Brexit thing. Projects take years.

[@timaustin2000]

​@@patdbeando you think the EU sent people over with picks and shovels? No. They invested MONEY. FFS.

[@Neilhuny]

Desperately keen to have a ground source heat pump in the naughties I got a quote for a borehole version (horizontal version was impossible). We had a metre of clay overlying flinty chalk, were told we would need to start with at least a 100m deep borehole and a starting price/base price of £30,000... my wife wouldn't let me do it. It was vastly over-priced. If you look up prices today, you will find a guide price for drilling boreholes is typically between £25 to £40 per metre. The guideline for a borehole contributing 4kW to the heat system with a standard compressor is roughly 100 meters at £4,000 - £6,000 and you will need three of these for a 12kW system, so £12,000 - £18,000 for the drilling of the boreholes. She would have accepted that.

[@patrickjr11]

This is very cool stuff. Really makes sense to have ground array approach as more reliable to the residents.

[@nc3826]

stating that it will be more reliable is just an assumption

[@patrickjr11]

@@nc3826 agreed, it is an assumption.

[@nc3826]

@@patrickjr11 As a long-term heat pump owner and user.... I have data that concurs with and contradicts.... That assumption....

[@nc3826]

@@patrickjr11 but i agree.... either way it's still very cool stuff....

[@hans.vbaalen]

There is a small problem when the largest uk supplier makes 54 units a week, and we need to decarbonise 20k households a week to meet our international obligations

[@clivethomas6864]

Appropriate that it is being installed at Stithians as 35 years ago the “Hot Rocks” project was in operation here. This drilled boreholes deep underground to pump water down and recover heated water for use in energy production. The research they pioneered I’m sure has contributed to this project.

[@IhabFahmy]

This setup makes so much engineering and economic sense. One good thing that came out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is it opend European eyes to the need for a robust, independent, more sustainable energy supply than imported natural gas.

[@JH-uu7jl]

The microphone you're using on the local expert must be amazing. The sound quality is flawless while she's standing in what appears to be an actual tornado-level wind generator.

[@ehhhhhhhhhh]

Seriously, the quality of their audio/video is fantastic. Their production value is among the best on KZbin, in my opinion.

[@bimblinghill]

I've just completed an install of a Kensa Evo. It's a great piece of hardware - not flashy, but does the job and seems really robust. Commissioning support was excellent. I'm really glad to see Kensa getting in on shared ground array installations - it's the right technology and I think it's the right company to do it.

[@salibaba]

We need more Kensas around. As in more companies with the same attitude, and also to cover the scale of the prize open here.

[@jonord]

....and this is rather old news in Sweden. I remember when a neighbour did this back in the 1980ies. But better late than never. :)

[@jasonbroom7147]

Looks like a great way to get more people to adopt heat pumps...and for utility companies to keep billing customers for one product/service or another.

[@philtucker1224]

I don’t think it’s a choice now, as far as I know all heating for new houses after 2026 has to be heat pumps or all- electric. - were not allowed to fit gas boilers after that date.

[@jasonbroom7147]

@@philtucker1224 - Sure, but does it have to come from a utility or can it be independent for your home? My point is that utilities are doing whatever they must to maintain a strangle-hold on the consumer.

[@philtucker1224]

@@jasonbroom7147 no there are hundreds of heat installation companies providing all types of heat generation (particularly for customers that are intending to be “off-grid” especially) however don’t forget that the pumps do draw a lot of electricity to run the heat exchanger so you will need to include that in your budget ( I don’t know figures)

[@alanhat5252]

@@philtucker1224 I haven't got into the weeds of it myself but the figures I'm seeing are up to 3:1 for air source or 5:1 for shallow ground source heat pumps so a medium to large house will probably peak around 10KW for air source or 7KW for ground source (water source seems similar to ground source) &, like conventional boilers, run at less than peak most of the time (my last gas boiler was 35KW so I'm taking that as a guesstimate). Obviously the draughtproofing & extra insulation that seem to come with the package will reduce the figures to a huge extent. The system in the video is a deep well one & collecting substantial heat from the ground so different figures again.

[@maxbee4460]

Buyer beware, if someone is funding it for you maybe it will be ok. For the individual planning on going down this route, there are no accredited installers of heat pumps etc. anyone can set up to do this on the back of their plumbing company. All these installations are complex and need someone who knows exactly what they are doing. It’s not cheap to install and in some cases expensive to run if installed incorrectly, which happened to a friend of mine on his new build. He’s now three down the road of the bore hole idea, electric pumps running most of the time and his electric bill is heading towards£4000 per year.

[@Lewis_Standing]

Want, want want want want want want Come to do my street

[@theunknownunknowns5168]

Imogen, last week Rosie Barnes of Engineering with Rosie had a grid electricity expert on her channel, his final thought was of the great potential of "community scale" (street-ish scale) batteries. Its made me think and I've noticed that apart from wind (maybe), renewables tend to be well suited for community scales. Ground source heating/cooling, batteries, solar, shared ev's, gardens and others I currently can't remember. I could see the pro-centralised energy producers following the fossil fuels industry lies and deception on this too.

[@philtucker1224]

Yes, (because Wind and solar PV energy is so sporadic) the only way to harness it for 24/7 use is with massive batteries. At least with ground source heat pumps they are already 24/7/365 so no need for expensive batteries..

[@t3hpwninat0r]

The energy companies like centralised production because everything gets cheaper at larger scale. They could still make money off this community scale heating system by owning the pipes. It would probably cheaper for them too - install once, pretty much no maintenance, collect payment for 100 years.

[@alanhat5252]

@@t3hpwninat0r the existing energy companies have already proved their main interest is fleecing everybody, we don't need to pander to them.

[@alanhat5252]

@@philtucker1224 have you noticed there are interconnectors appearing all round the world? Do you know what they're for?

[@philtucker1224]

@@alanhat5252 absolutely no idea Alan.

[@offgridwanabe]

If you have to live in a city it definitely is a solution for people and a profit for the utility company. I have had ground source heat here in Canada for 20 years and I am glad the cost savings went into my pocket and not the utility company and now with solar it is almost free.

[@kevmeister1702]

Surprised that the consumer said she expected the bills to run the heat pump to be the same as the oil for her old boiler. The intro stated that heat pumps are 5 times more efficient than boilers so you would hope for a big drop in bills.

[@del4668]

Electricity is 37ppkwh. Last time I checked oil is 7ppwkh. Sure heat pumps are a lot more efficient but there is no getting away from the massive difference in cost. Plus heat pumps are designed to be on 24/7 you would never do this with a boiler. Instead you would just have it on for a couple of hours a day.

[@eliotmansfield]

“Up to 5 times more efficient”

[@chrislaf2011]

@@del4668 The whole point of heat pumps is that the energy required to drive them IS NOT the same as the energy you would otherwise "burn" to provide heat directly. The pump is moving the heat from one place (the ground) to another (the house). So - the price of a kwh of oil versus electricity is comparing apples to oranges. The question of costs is, of course, down to the efficiency of the pump system, but the electrical energy input required will be less than that if used to - say - run an electric radiator directly. So - assuming the quote from the consumer is correct - then (using your prices) using electricity as direct heat would be about 5.3 times more expensive (37/7 = 5.3). But they're not paying 5.3 times as much, they are paying about the same! So, using the heat pump has got them the same heating via electricity (heat pump/ground) whilst removing the usage of oil and thus CO2 emissions.

[@del4668]

@chrislaf2011 not really I don't really care for this hysteria about CO2. Like most people all I care about is how much it costs to heat my home. Saying its cheaper than direct heat well no one is using direct heat to warm their house that would be financial suicide.

[@LickorishAllsorts]

@@eliotmansfield Might be 5 times more efficient than an open air peat fire at the end of the garden so not really dishonest.

[@aam50]

So uplifting to see a project of this type delivering clear benefits and being actively welcomed by the residents - clearly Kensa have done a great job of navigating both the financial and public opinion hurdles that so many of these innovative solutions face. It would be really interesting to know how much this was made feasible because of the European Development Fund (thanks for nothing, Brexit!) and whether this works because the Cornish geology makes it feasible or if it is widely applicable around the UK / World.

[@ecoworrier]

Would be cool to put the first section of (uninsulated) tubing parallel to the sewage pipes in the street. To recover the heat from waste shower, bath, sink and toilet water (which is always being wasted and renewed).

[@kadmow]

(rather take that residual heat out before the sewage leaves the home... run the shower pipes through the bathroom thermal mass - slab. - very little "quality" heat will remain, besides it does prevent shallow pipes freezing.) - all good points are good points.

[@ecoworrier]

@@kadmow true. I have a heat recovery drain in my house. 2m high copper soil stack with a copper spiral pipe around the outside. Incoming town water goes up the spiral while the shower water comes down the centre.

[@edc1569]

Is the return fluid always above freezing?

[@philtucker1224]

@@ecoworrier yes for houses that still use baths, they ought to fit baths with a copper coil running around them to harness all of that lovely hot water heat that most people just “pull the plug on” (like my dear wife for instance 😁)

[@philtucker1224]

@@edc1569 (below about 4 metres ground soil) in the U.K. stays at +12 degrees c all year round I believe, winter and summer.

[@Nikoo033]

Average standing charge for gas is £0.29/day in the UK, so I sincerely hope that those residents are not paying £1/day for their GSHP standing charge 😮!! Especially considering that we keep hearing that HPs require very little maintenance and are being told in this episode that what is in the ground is “just” hose pipes 😅

[@qcope]

Agreed. So we get free heat, from the ground.... and the running costs are "competitive" to oil... A method of heating that no one can afford.

[@Nikoo033]

@@qcope or as usual, some are making a decent amount of “pocket money” out of this necessary transition.

[@Travis0palzae]

@@qcope It greatly depends on local costs and equipment efficiencies. My air-source heat-pump is cheaper than gas down to -15C. My electricity and gas is dirt cheap but if the ratio of electricity to gas was more, then gas would be cheaper. ($0.09/kWh Electric and $0.032/kWh Gas, 2.8 ratio) (average UK $0.38/kWh Electric and $0.09/kWh Oil, 4.2 ratio)

[@PeaceChanel]

Thank You for All that you are doing for our Planet Earth.... Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ ☮ ❤

[@TC-V8]

£1 daily standing charge - wow - over 3x more than gas standing charge!

[@nc3826]

Thanks for the feel good story, but I do have a couple minor critiques. Imogen, Initially referenced heat coming up from the ground, made it sound like a geothermal project. When in reality it turned out to be a more common ground source heat pump project And it was a little disappointing that the additional electricity costs weren't lower than the existing fuel costs. (Plus did it include the cost of the new infrastructure in the 40 year contract? It didn't explicitly state that in the post, but it seemed to be referred) It seems like there has to be more government incentives 'initially' to prove to later adopters that everybody that is made to switch is saving money..

[@anttikalpio4577]

UK doesn’t need ground source heat pump since you don’t have really cold temperatures ever. My Mitsubishi air source heat pump works efficiently here in Finland even when temperature drops down to -20c. Below that I need additional heaters to keep my house warm.

[@SteveN-pw4dj]

This is a more sensible solution than row upon row of houses having fans running in the back yard... And this has less moving parts to fail. I'm not an environmentalist, but this just makes total sense to me. Also removes the need for gas supplies to new houses, so an extra bonus.

[@samspencer7765]

Given that most people wont just get the freebies associated with a pilot project, the in home heat exchanger etc, I really wouldn't wanna be stuck with a £365+ yearly standing charge that the company can increase at their whim. Reduce your dependency on the grid by your own private finance as much as possible, save as aggressively as you can to get your own oversized solar + LFP batteries.

[@edc1569]

You still need to heat your home? Most people would rather pay a few quid a year and not have a massive air-to-air unit in their small garden. This is a solution that seems great for terraces and maybe semi’s. Make it the cost of the gas standing charge and I’d be happy.

[@edc1569]

I’d also suggest your attitude of using the grid as a supplier of last resort is not sustainable as a national policy.

[@philtucker1224]

That’s fine but it’s a massive investment of between 10 and 20 thousand with a payback time of around 20 years. Most ordinary people don’t have that sort of money and younger working families won’t expect to be in the same house for that long anyway..

[@philtucker1224]

@@edc1569if the heating package (with the higher standing charge) worked out a lot cheaper, would you choose it ? 🤔

[@rogerphelps9939]

Not much use in winter with temperatures hovering around freezing for days and no sunshine. You would need several hundred kwh of battery capacity.

[@Exaris79]

LOL, if u've been to Labrador/New FoundLand, not sure which is best considering that they got consistent really strong winds for wind power generation for electricity. As for needing heat during winter it might be best to use the heat pump.

[@jacobcarlson4010]

This is an interesting idea. I will have to forward this to the mayor of my town to see if it’s something we could do.

[@ThisIsToolman]

I’m generally skeptical with regard to any of the “green” solutions but not this one. In fact I seriously considered it 40 years ago in conjunction with the construction of an underground home. At the point at which I was ready to start construction the price of building materials went out of sight and as a result the project never happened.

[@LickorishAllsorts]

There is an interesting project in Caerau, South Wales trialling heat pumps using old flooded mine works as the ground source heat, temperatures above 20°C.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Heat pumps are definitely the future of heating and ground source is best. I have one. One concern that I have is that the electricity demand on a cold winter's day is going to be massive. My heat pump produces over 9kw of heat for an electrical input of 3kw but it has to be on around 17 hours per day going nearly flat out on a very cold day. The demand on the local distribution networks and the grid as a whole will be close to the entire present installed capacity. It is a lot greater t han the requirements for EV charging. Then there is the problem of generation if there is no wind. Where do you get 60GW of green electricity just for heating from on a cold still day? Batteries have nowhere near the necessary capacity and pumped storage is just a few GWh. We need lots of storage. Perhaps Dale Vince's idea of using grass to produce energy could be used or maybe excess renewable energy could be used to produce hydrogen which could be stored in old gas gields such as Morecambe Bay. Whatever we do the very inefficient and wasteful process of burning gas, natural or synthetic, in domestic boilers must end.

[@astoni314]

Infra red panels seem much 'lighter on their feet' than the day long operation of the gshp and the ashp. A background trickle of heat ( 7 degrees C) for uninhabited rooms and a 2 and half minute programmable warm up time in inhabited rooms. If all the rooms are occupied all day then the heat pump logic applies, otherwise for those who wish for a combination of lower embodied energy overall, simpler cheaper install and less of a need to look 'a bit serious' when presenting the IR panel approach may be the best fit for some; provided that a realistic bid price is put forward by the government for the more efficient wind farms at sea approach as part of a sensible energy mix, as with 'E.ON' or others. Maybe next decade, or just before the fabled 2050, which will probably be too late, based on the newest data from Antarctica.

[@EPeltzer]

Cornwall is about the warmest area of Britain isn't it? It's not exactly balmy but rarely gets below freezing even at night from what I read. Seems like air source heat pumps would be vastly cheaper to deploy and work pretty efficiently. There was no hard dara comparison of air source versus ground source in Cornwall in this video. Ground source is a much better proposition where it stays below freezing a significant amount of the winter.

[@cm1701a]

Groundbreaking! Great headline in the video/thimbnail- love the double meaning

[@mikec2505]

I’m sorry? Did you say the Standing Charge is £1 per day which is roughly the same as gas?!! Look, I’m all for these new technologies and fully support the charge to net zero, but when reporting these things you have to be so careful you don’t give the ‘anti’ faction any fuel, if you’ll pardon the pun. My standing charge for gas is currently 27p, not £1. And even if you meant both gas and electricity (which I’m pretty sure you didn’t) that would still come to about 75p, which still cannot be equated to ‘roughly the same’. Unless I’ve misinterpreted? That being said,there’s still bill parity, I guess. Still, very interesting report and fab views of Portreath at the start!

[@xxwookey]

@@andys5841 Does that matter? What people care about is their monthly bill. Expensive infrastructure amortised over a long time is fine (like housing, roads, bridges, gas, electricity). If it's cheaper than passivehouse retrofits (and it is, less than half the price), then that's good value.

[@directresolution]

@@xxwookey The women said around the same cost added to Electric as the old oil boiler cost in oil to run, oil is much more expensive than gas, the only advantage is no standing charge. I live in the village shown at the start (not the one doing the project, that's about 15 miles away) I would love to switch to ground or air source but unless I redo my entire house to be air tight and underfloor heating and have solar then it's going to cost me more each month (Electric vs Electric+oil totals) as well as a big initial outlay, I'm just not going to put myself through that!

[@salibaba]

I'd love to see the many tenement buildings in my city retrofitted like this. Stick a borehole down the back green of each of the buildings and pipe it to each of the apartments in that building, 6-8 homes mostly, sometimes 6 above 2 small shops.

[@chow-chihuang4903]

One piece of maintenance rarely mentioned (and not mentioned to me by my HVAC contractor who does annual checkups on our system) is needing to flush and replace the ground loop coolant (usually just tap water) to remove precipitated particles. Take care of this every 5 years and your system will last. Installation for a system with three 200ft deep ground wells, since it for new construction, was about the same as an air-source heat pump system, with the 20% federal tax credit at the time (it’s greater now). As far as operating costs. My winter electricity bill (which includes heating, lighting, cooking etc.) is roughly a quarter that of my neighbors’ gas bills for heating only. Our summer bills for cooling are closer, but still less, roughly half. It’s especially low during temperate months as the compressor rarely runs when as blowing air over the ground loop coils (in our area, it runs about 15.5C [60F]) is sufficient for cooling.

[@mikakoivusaari4546]

Disclaimer, I live in Finland and we use alcohol in ground loops so that they don't freeze. We have a filter in our ground loop that catches dirt that got in the loop during installation and pipe manufacturing, I have cleaned that once but never have we replaced ground loop liquid. I would assume if you replaced the liquid there would be new dirt in it, better to just clean the filter.

[@chow-chihuang4903]

@@mikakoivusaari4546 Alchohol would probably be better at avoiding sediment precipitating out of the tap water typically used in the US Midwest. I don’t see a filter of any kind, but ClimateMaster, the manufacturer of our system advised us to change the manifold (they call it a “flow box”) and accompanying pumps as the original components had pump bearing cooling channels that are easily clogged by these precipitates. I will ask if there is a filter and how to clean it during the replacement process.

[@richardfreeborn4683]

An excellent documentary!

[@gigabyte2248]

Hey guys... wanna know a secret? It's a bit out-there, but I can trust you guys, right? The reason Cornwall's geology is so warm is because the granite it's on contains thorium and uranium. That underground heat is from radioactive decay. That sounds scary, but it's not actually that much radioactive material and it's all locked up tight in dense, solid rock. It's not much radioactivity, but a county-sized block of granite with a small heat dissipation per unit volume will still get a few degrees warmer at the surface and a few tens of degrees warmer deep down (like at the United Downs Deep Geothermal project). This kind of geology is why building surveyors issue radon reports, as cellars/basements in this kind of geology can accumulate radon gas if you're reckless with your construction.

[@mattchristie1810]

Great idea as always, but .... in order to get customers on board it has to add up. That nice lady said it was comparable to her previous costs of running an oil heating system and electricity. That's massively more expensive than gas/electricity. Looking at the infrastructure going in, that doesn't surprise me. Also, who has a spare room for all that heating equipment? It's got potential all this, no doubt about it, but if they knocked on my door I'd have some serious questions for them. Perhaps with all that boring kit they can make underground boiler rooms whilst they're at it?

[@petersilva037]

Um... in the house, they were replacing the coal room? I replaced my oil boiler with an electric one and it took up far less room, and isn't even considering the tank. You want the heat exchanger in the livable space because there will be waste heat that you want to capture, and it should be easy to get at for rare maintenance, and it needs to connect to water pipes that circulate warm water to the radiators. I can't believe a gas boiler would be more compact... perhaps electric baseboard heating, but pure electric will cost about 4x more ongoing because ... you aren't using a heat pump. So it will be more expensive to put in, but cheaper to run than pure electric. The homeowner was saying it was about the same price as oil... oil isn't cheap. if she had gone with pure electric (no heat pump) her running cost would be far higher.

[@rogerphelps9939]

@@petersilva037 Electric boiler? Do you like burning money?

[@kotgc7987]

Ground source looks like geothermal. Would it not be cheaper for individual houses to install geothermal themselves, which stops the heating bills forever once the the installation is paid off? Utilities will only increase costs over time.

[@xxwookey]

Americans call ground-source 'geothermal', which is a bit confusing because 95% of the heat comes from the sun, not the mantle. Strictly speaking geothermal heat is from below-ground sources and has _much_ deeper boreholes. Hundreds of metres, not tens. As you say the advantage of building your own and paying outright is that eventually it is paid for but the cost doesn;t drop to zero - you are still responsible for maintenance (which might be very low until it needs total replacement in 100 years). The disadvantage is that you need to build a system sized for peak load. These shared systems can be significantly smaller due to diversity. And it's a lot easier for a large company to borrow the money at good rates than a house owner. So this system is cheaper per house, and someone else takes care of the maintenance, like any other utility. So yes both ways can work, but this is lower embodied emissions and cost and a lot less hassle. You _can_ build and maintain your own solar+battery array so that you don't need the grid, but it' expensive in comparison to just buying from the grid. This is the same tradeoff (and requires access to a lot of capital). How much do you want to pay for total indepedence?

[@edc1569]

Geothermal is much deeper

[@eddyd8745]

It's not geothermal, the water coming up is only about 12 degrees C. Geothermal is hot water from much deeper.

[@frejaresund3770]

I have been enjoyed, so thank you for delivering.

[@Pottery4Life]

This looks great!

[@sloanNYC]

Super green and price is stable. Using underground heat sinks is a huge potential for the world.

[@JacyEcy]

"What's not to like?": I'm all in favour of this technology BUT thinking of my own home, I do not want all the floor boards lifted, all the radiators changed and to have to build some space to house the plant (I have no coal shed to repurpose). So sadly, I really don't see this working for me or a lot of others in my position.

[@chow-chihuang4903]

If they’re available in your area, look into mini-split heat pump systems. They’re air-sourced, but they are made for homes that lack central HVAC ducting. There are even DIY systems, if you’re okay doing drilling, electrical work. The coolant lines are pre-filled and color-coded so it’s clear what gets connected to each other. The only downside is they’re not sized for whole-house, but to manage 1-2 rooms each. Friends of mine installed three Mr. Cool units this summer - one for the open space upstairs, one for the open space downstairs and one for their bedroom & home office. Their house has lousy ductwork and it would’ve been more expensive to install a central unit and rework the ducting, never mind torn up quite a bit of their house to do so. The mini-splits took a couple days each, and they like the zone control they now have with their three mini-splits.

[@KenWerkSolar]

I've dreamed about community ground source for a while! It would be way easier here to connect to here because most houses have forced air heating/cooling systems. I went ahead individually and had a 500 foot deep well drilled to support a ground source heat pump system. The heat pump replaced my condensing fossil gas furnace and nothing else had to be changed other than the thermostat.

[@philtucker1224]

That’s interesting, was there any additional costs (that you wouldn’t have had to pay for anyway) and how are you finding it after a complete one year season’s cycle?

[@KenWerkSolar]

@@philtucker1224 Having a well drilled in the middle of the city was expensive and the ground source heat pump unit was also very expensive largely because they were/are extremely rare. I could only find one installer who would provide and install one in a large Canadian city. I've had it for 5 years and it has worked wonderfully well. I disconnected from the gas grid at the time. My total utility costs did not change at all. Since then gas prices have risen at lot but electricity prices have stayed the same. When I installed it there were substantial govt rebates.

[@philtucker1224]

@@KenWerkSolar sounds like it was a successful experiment! (has it paid for itself yet and do you expect it to have a reasonably long life before refreshment/replacement is required?)

[@KenWerkSolar]

It isn't about saving money - my utility costs are already very low. This was the final piece I needed to be zero carbon and I could afford to do it. If those of us who can afford to stop burning stuff don't then who will? The hope is it becomes mainstream and therefore affordable for everyone.@@philtucker1224

[@EcoHouseThailand]

Here in Thailand water at the bottom of my 30m well is 19C when the ambient temperature is 40C. I have plans to use this reduce the use of my air conditioning

[@justin_time]

And then it is much easier for people to generate their own electricity on-site after the install if they choose to spend more on other systems such as solar panels and backup batteries, which could help to guard against any potential fluctuation in electricty prices. If not, it is still much easier for the UK to generate its own electricity, reliability, and in a low carbon manner than relying on extracting and refining oil either from the North Shore reserves or from abroad, so it is much more likely that electricty prices will remain stable into the future when compared to fossil fuel prices. Community heat pump systems seem like a good plan for many reasons.

[@zettaiengineer4202]

fwiw Drake's Landing SC is a community thermal project near Calgary, CA. Their twist is community ground source heat that is seasonally charged/stored by solar thermal. The community achieved 96% solar fraction (fraction of heat provided by the community system) which is impressive given the cold winters at 51N latitude.

[@derekclark7545]

The ASHP is now just as efficient as a GSHP, with most ASHPs obtaining COP values of around 4.2 average yearly, it's really just down to cost and that's in favor of ASHPs now as the cost of a GSHP is far higher, therefore ASHPs are the way to go. GSHPCommunal heating like this is of course a different ball game. Towards the end of this video, it is asked of Plumbers (Gas heating engineers) to increase radiators sizes as it makes the cost of the GSHP install cheaper, the building regs already make it clear that when fitting a boiler the water temperature into the heating circuit should not be higher than 60 degs, so heating engineers should already be installed to a lower delta T to achieve this and that normally some means larger radiators need to be fitted, I would have thought that she would have known this.

[@MikeHarEV]

Standing charge for connecting to the system is nearly 4x a day more expensive than the current gas Standing. If that includes the heat pump, installation maintenance then that's ok.

[@logicalChimp]

This touches on one my 'concerns' - who owns / maintains the 'shared' part of the GSHP... if there's a maintenance contract covered by the standing charge, then that's great.

[@MichaelFlatman]

It seems a bit of a hard sell that the bill costs are the same vs oil... I guess the convenience factor of not having to have an oil delivery every now and then is a big bonus.

[@David-bi6lf]

I mean yeah who gives an F about the planet right.

[@pumpkinhead456]

I remember reading that if they put ground source under all the golf courses in Edinburgh, it could heat the whole city. Just off to dig up the 9th...

[@philtucker1224]

I think they already do that on some professional football fields..

[@user-wzmwomi]

Does this system only works because of the granite spine, or would this principle work in other locations as well?

[@jamesx2703]

The only thing i dont like, is that with an air source heat pump, if it costs £10k thats it, done and dusted. With this system youre effecticely signing a long rental i assume, like a commited standing charge?

[@MyChannel-di2ho]

Amazing technology and a brilliant system. I do feel that if there were a reduction in the home owners utility bills there would be a bigger uptake of this type of system. Yes everyone knows we need to be more environmentally friendly with everything we do in life but in these times where people are struggling to pay their mortgage/rent and put food on their table there really needs to be a financial benefit as well. I really hope technology like this becomes more of the norm and that he powers that be give some financial benefit to the home owners. It’s almost a case of being environmentally friendly is only available to the rich and wealthy. The good thing here is there is no I initial outlay tor the home owner, a step in my he right direction

[@adus123]

Could this not be done all over the UK especially if the wells could be drilled in the street. I know you say this particular instance the ground is warmer than normal but by how much. This could be good for lower income household and old closely packed terraced houses were installing a air source heat pump could a challenge.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Ground source energy is just solar in a roundabout way. The sun heats the ground and at depth the temperature is pretty much constant at around 10 deg C all year round, just like in a cave. The ground has a huge thermal capacity so tapping a bit of it by using it to heat a very cold circulating fluid by just a few degrees has very little effect. In the summer, when the heat pump is just supplying hot water, solar energy replenishes the heat store. In the case of Cornwall the heat source is geothermal as well as solar.

[@philtucker1224]

No I don’t think trying to install it for old or existing houses would be that practical as the extra cost to existing home owners would be enormous. However, they are being fitted to new housing from 2026 as part of the new building regs (as new gas boiler installations are banned from then onwards I believe)..

[@adus123]

@@philtucker1224 The whole point of this scheme is there's no upfront cost to the home And one of them had an old coal shed so it definitely wasn't a new property

[@philtucker1224]

@@adus123 Hi Ad, thanks, - (if there’s no upfront costs, there must be a monthly repayment plan over a number of years). This would be in addition to the customer’s normal energy bill. Do you know how much that extra charge would be by any chance?

[@adus123]

@@philtucker1224 Did you watch the video.

[@Sidewinder1009oli]

This could be investments for big businesses as well, if they have houses near by would make the bore holes more cost effective

[@zombiestyled]

£365 a year standing charge isn't close to what a dual fuel consumer pays. It's far more. And we should really be striving to remove standing charges as they don't encourage energy reduction. And what does "around a pound" a day mean. Is it a fluctuating price. Is it different for different houses?

[@sheenacox5660]

I don't know if anybody else knew this but Scotland has a heat network fund ,I would be willing to volunteer for my street to be used for this

[@TheWineroute]

Everything electric rock, great filmmaking! Thank you.

[@MrKlawUK]

curious how this affects the size of HP for the houses - thats a lot of digging just to pre-warm water that then needs further processing. that house with a 7kw heat pump is standalone size for many properties

[@MarkGovier]

Edited: It won’t change anything in terms of the size of heat pump, that is dictated by the volume and insulation of the building. The “efficiency” gain is in the shared cost of boreholes and the increased COP compared to any air source system. Heat pumps work by concentrating heat and moving it from one place to another. The water in the ground loop does not circulate in the home, only the heat pump there are heaps of videos out there explaining how great pumps work, but think how the front of a bike pump gets hot as you compress the air...

[@edc1569]

It’s not pre-warming the water, it is the thermal source. Less nosy, less intrusive and performance is less dependent on the weather, so you can size the units smaller.

[@philtucker1224]

It’s actually using the warmth of the soil to create warmer water to start with so saving hundreds of pounds per year in a home’s water heating costs. Think of it like putting very hot drinking water into an electric kettle, (it will boil much more quickly so saving all that electricity…)

[@keschris]

Most everywhere in the world are way ahead of UK in the use of heat pumps. I'd love to get rid of my gas combi boiler in my well insulated house but the costs and disruption of a heat pump system is never going to make it viable.

[@philtucker1224]

They are already fitted to new housing. (Gas boilers are banned now for new builds)

[@rogerphelps9939]

Please consider the environment that your grandchildren are going to have to live in. Fossil fuels have external costs that do not appear on any balance sheet but are real nevertheless. Unfortunately the cost becomes apparent in future global warming and environmental degradation. Please do not look at it ijust n strict terms of how mmuch money it is going to cost you.

[@keschris]

@@rogerphelps9939 I am very conscious of the climate challenge we face having volunteered with our local sustainability group since 2006. I have spent a lot of money to reduce my bills, and have had an EV for 5 years. There is a better solution for me just around the corner. I am invested in Ripple Energy, I expect Vehicle to Grid and Vehicle to Home technologies to become active, both of which will make moving to a different form of electrical heating be a cost effective and efficient way of replacing the gas boiler. A Heat Pump will never be that in this house.

[@keithwesley2471]

Money spent by the government or the EU is still taxpayer's money. However this sounds like a good idea and worth exploring further.

[@ericvet8b]

Definitely makes sense… But £1/day?? That’s not similar to gas standing charge Imogen.., that’s more like at least twice… although I guess they don’t have to pay for the installation and maintenance (if any). If anything goes wrong with their individual units, is that part of their service or do they have to pay for it individually?

[@returner323617]

Nice one. Anything that stops us burning a carbon-based energy source has to be a good thing, and given that the electricity needing to drive the GSHP can be renewable sourced, it really is a no-brainer.

[@philtucker1224]

Yes and the less fossil fuel coal/oil/gas that we consume in the rich western countries should hopefully make it cheaper for developing countries that are just surviving burning wood by cutting down trees etc..

[@petercroxford5030]

OK my issue is iv old storage heaters in my house which I use on night rate so half price hole 3 story house is heated for 7 months a year for am average 5.5 kW by 5 hours per day how does a heat pump beat that plus already paying standing charge for electric so no extra fee my house if over heated during the winter. During the summer no heating required not had it on since end of march this year and only issues iam having is the house is still to hot lol

[@FROG2000]

It would be nice to see some actually numbers instead of just handwaving over these. Also what prevents the first house from taking all the heat out of the supply and leaving nothing for anyone else?

[@Nikoo033]

the HPs installation target set by the government is 600 000/year. This company is the largest GSHP manufacturer in the UK and they make about 3330 a year… 😅

[@christianbrandt6710]

We have Solar PV and Heatpump old news in Germany

[@wanaan]

I think similar idea needs to be done on shared cooling tower for places like India where heat is killing perpetuity people at night.

[@kavanobrien6547]

What about individual sand batteries in a garden, very surprised that this is not being looked at as part of heating a home.

[@ukslim]

I would imagine sand batteries can't be small, by their very nature. The smaller an object is, the higher the ratio of surface area to volume, hence the more surface there is from which to lose heat. For a sand battery, bigger is more efficient.

[@kavanobrien6547]

@@ukslim you used the word imagined , detected somewhat of a guess from yourself , you mentioned an area being a factor in the heat one would hope to get , this might be an occasion where size is not the dominant factor, example underground you and I know there’s a constant heat so if one was to dig a hole to put a tank or box obviously sealed with a pipeline coming out of it that heat would generate warm air coming into homes , personally thinking it’s an opportunity that has not even been looked at, of course one might conclude the reason why it hasn’t been looked at is because it’s no good , would be nice to see if anyone has at least tried it, thanks for your reply, who knows if I’ve made you think outside the box then I would probably say put some sand in it.

[@rogerphelps9939]

@@ukslim Given constant thermal specific heat a large thermal battery can either hold a lot more heat at the same temperature or the same amount of heat at a lower temperature. Heating it up in the first place is more efficient if the temperature increase is small. That is why heat pumps are ideal for heating swimming pools.

[@AlexanderWigmore]

Standing charge of £1 per day, seems high? Has the company doing the heat pump network monopolised the standing charge in this situation, i.e, can it be transferred to a different energy supplier?

[@don1estelle]

Dose it work in reverse to cool homes on hot days?

[@danielmadar9938]

Thank you

[@1over137]

The only concerns around this and most other "community energy" projects is cultural and financial. We live in a western capitalist democracy. "Community energy" projects would be better supported by a socialist under pinning, the kind the UK is seemingly moving away from. In a capitalist democracy the infrastructure will be owned and operated by large utilities. We all know how well that has been going. While on the short term there is minimal maintenance, but it's not zero and if shared infra fails, it fails for all. At the moment if that is the electric, gas or telecoms lines they get noticed quickly. If it's your ground pump leaking at "No 38" down the road where nobody is current living, it's going to take weeks. If the communities are too small, neighbours will fight. Whether valid or not, if someones heating isn't working they way they expect they will blame their neighbours for "hogging" the resources. In a capitalist society it's likely this will be managed by "pay per use" with a sizable profit for the utilities.

[@AnonYmous-rw6un]

Still unfortunately hidden in there was saying that it is more expensive than gas for many projects because of retrofitting costs.

[@arthur1670]

is this not just district heating ?

[@leakmasters270]

Anyone know what they backfill the bore holes with to ensure contact between pipes add ground? Also when they mentioned plumbing retrofit is this because the pipes need to be larger diameter due to thr higher flow required because the heat pump water temp is lower compared with gas boiler temps?

[@mikakoivusaari4546]

Atleast here in Finland holes are not filled with anything but they fill up with ground water which is a excellent heat transfer.

[@logicalChimp]

Hmm... I could be getting things mixed up... but a 1-quid / day standing charge is 365 GBP / year.... if the costs is ammortised over 40 years (I think that's what was said in the video), that's 14,600 GBP.... per home. Given they're drilling only one community borehole (plus laying the pipeline to each home), that seems like a reasonable cost... and should work in a far greater temp-range than air-source (useful, given the ongoing climate changes in the UK)

[@stephen-boddy]

Not a single borehole. 42 of them, all connected together in a loop. Re-watch 3:00 It is not a 1:1 ratio, but I don't think they say how many homes will be connected to the loop.

[@hazmat5749]

£1 per day for a standing charge is pretty high, I currently pay 28p standing charge for gas.

[@temporalsoliton]

Imogen is a good host. She never seems rushed or overwhelmed by the technology.

[@Paul_]

Thanks - very interesting.

[@simondehaas8784]

The upfront cost has obviously got to be paid somehow and in future it won't be by the EU now that we know longer pay in. So it'll either be paid directly by communities or indirectly by taxpayers. I actually think this sort of community project could go a bit further and build a local solar and/or wind farm of sufficient size to power the GSHP pumps so that it is effectively independent of the grid and completely carbon free. I'm not sure it would add a big proportion to the cost. Community GSHP sounds good in principle though because it needs more space to dig under than most people have at home.

[@stevehayward1854]

Brilliant, now we need it rolled out right across the country, with the backing of the government it could be done

[@philtucker1224]

Already in the 2026 regs ✅

[@stevehayward1854]

@@philtucker1224 Is that just for new builds ?

[@philtucker1224]

@@stevehayward1854 all building regs. (You can get them online if you are trying to get planning permission etc).

[@GrantSR]

Most of the audio of Imogen seem to be clipped in most of the videos she is in. It makes it much harder to hear what she is saying than with your other presenters. You might want to look into that.

[@Teapode]

If we are REALLY about speeding up, than that is not the solution. Ground to Water heat pump instalations costs 25 000 euros per home Air to Water heat pump instalations costs 15 000 euros per home Air to Air heat pump instaltions costs 5 000 euros per home and could be cheaper and much more easier to do. And it is just untrue, that ground source heat pump are 30-40% more efficient. Running that water pump over 150m long shaft if energy intense. Ground source heat pump has SCOP of 4, same as Air source heat pumps. Never saw a single ground source heat pump with SCOP of 5,6 ( 40% more efficient ) For me it just ridiculous, that we are in emergency, and everbody trying to push the most expensive and complicated heat pumps solutions, when in reality everybody just cound drill 5 holes in their houses, put 5 Air to Air heat pumps and solve the issue. We went with Air to Air, and it just works. Cheap, easy to repare, easy to replace. For now only rich people cound afford heat pumps, as the are no subsidies for cheap Air to Air heat pumps. Same as with electric cars - subsidies for luxury electric SUV cars, no subsidies for Ebikes or Quadricycles with roofs ( citycars ) . Subsidies for Ground source heat pumps, no subsidies for Air source. Subsidies for insulation of luxury mansions with triple glass, no subsidies for living in a small flat using almost no energy for heating. RIDICULOUS.

[@rolyantrauts2304]

Kensa the only real UK heat pump manufacturer as yeah Valiant do but really a German company. Likely perfect for regional public owned enterprise, maybe its time to regionally franchise.

[@joeyfinafrock7692]

Should see about combining solar power with the heat pump to get a. Way from the power grid as well or make the solar large enough to sell back to grid for the home owner get a 2 for 1

[@mikemellor759]

Interesting report but is this system only viable in Cornwall with wells only 106m. I was surprised that the heat pump system only matched the operational costs of the previous oil system - can’t it be cheaper?

[@Travis0palzae]

It greatly depends on the ratio of local costs and equipment efficiencies. (Missouri Electricity/Gas is 2.8 whereas UK Electricity/Oil is 4.2, so a COP of 4.2 is needed to break even.)

[@Beatles4Sale.]

If geothermal heat pumps made sense new housing developments would get them in our area. Instead everything is above ground air heat pumps. Geothermal is way too expensive and electricity too cheap for this to work where I live. I could see in colder regions of the US this starts to make more sense.

[@TheBoothy666]

Just for ref, but the installation in the video isn't Geothermal, it's a Ground Source Heat Pump, they are not the same thing (although are similar). Geothermal typically needs 500m deep or more boreholes (much deeper in some places, 2km+), as it takes the heat from the planets core, and the returning hot water is much hotter (often returned as steam), this makes Geothermal expensive (and typically reserved for things like power stations or large community heating project). Ground Source Heat Pumps only go down to ~200m, but can be as shallow as just a meter or two (if being laid out in a large area, so wide rather than deep), and the bulk of the heat in this case comes from the Suns heat absorbed by the ground, these also only produce cool to warm water, not hot (the heat pump in the house concentrates the heat to make it usable). These are much cheaper than Geothermal. Although air sourced heat pumps are cheaper still, but they are not as efficient as the ground sourced version.

[@georgethompson453]

If the UK really wanted to explore heat via the geothermic gradient it could examine old mine shafts which have been backfilled. Some of these are almost 1000 metres deep. I see no real take up in individual heat pump units for heating property and would be surprised if it take up reaches 5% of the UK housing stock

[@dinendale666]

It’s not typically 5/1 that’s near at maximum efficiency.

[@mikedunn7795]

I have noticed that these types of videos from Britain almost invariably use drop dead gorgeous reporters. I find it hard to keep my mind on the presentation...

[@TheEstevenw]

Can it do cooling as well?

[@chow-chihuang4903]

I don’t know of any that doesn’t. And it’s something you’d want to do to put heat back into the ground to extract it later during winter.

[@richardbergson1047]

I have long advocated ground source over air source and the installation of shared systems in all new build projects - so this is great news. I have a more long term concern though that humans are the only species to use stored energy (ie, wood, coal, oil/gas and this case the earth's heat) to meet its needs and this must deplete this store. What long term effect will drawing out the heat of the earth have on life on the surface in the coming centuries and millennia?