December 2018 update
Hurray we are now fossil fuel free. We have taken out our oil burner and Amber Heating has installed a brand-new ground source heat pump. This means no more exhaust fumes or heating oil which is transported to us by building up a significant carbon footprint, not to mention the extraction via sea or land drilling exposing nature to pollution in many respects.
This is a significant step towards sustainability. We are already harvesting our rainwater to water our fruit and vegetables, supplying bath and drinking water to our geese, ducks, Shetland sheep, alpacas and hens. Our laundry is also washed with beautiful soft rain water saving a significant amount of washing liquid. The heat pump was quite an eye watering financial expense but we are expecting to be reimbursed, at least some of it, over the next seven years via the RHI (renewable heat incentive) by the government.
The heat pump
It’s not only environmentally friendly and sustainable but also provides a lovely warm house with warm water always available. A heat pump works in principle like a fridge where you use the heat released at the back, emitted by your food and drinks in the fridge. It uses the heat energy of the earth which is provided by the sun heating the soil and rainwater carrying warmth down. Funny enough, I wrote my first Bachelor thesis in Engineering in 1988 investigating a heat exchanger performance of an air-heated heat pump. Life is like a boomerang, important things are returning to you eventually, in this case after thirty years.
Why is a heat pump sustainable? This is because for each kWh of electric energy put in, the heat pump generates up to 3.6 kWh of heat energy. So we are generating renewable energy similar to wind turbines or solar cells.
The Next step
The next step towards even more sustainability is producing our own electric energy, i.e. photo voltaic (solar) cells to provide the electric energy for our heat pump and the rest of the house hold. The ultimate goal is to dispose of our diesel cars and to replace those by electric cars fuelled by our own electric energy generated by solar cells.
Everything has a price thus having spent all our savings we have to find some money to pay for all the bills landing everyday on the table. Meaning we need to sell more eggs and honey and I am sure there are more learners who need private tuition in Physics, Science, Maths and German. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the light bulb effect in my tutees. So come on people the GCSE exams are lurking at the horizon. There is only one shot at those.
If you are interested in the concept of a heat pump please come and see us.
Cheerio,
Christoph