Loveridge, F, Schellart, A, Rees, S et al. (10 more authors) (2022) The potential for heat recovery and thermal energy storage in the UK using buried infrastructure. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Smart Infrastructure and Construction, 175 (1). pp. 10-26.
Abstract
Dispersed space heating alone accounts for 40% of UK energy use and 20% of CO2 emissions. Tackling heating and building cooling demands is therefore critical to achieve net zero ambitions in the UK. The most energy efficient way to decarbonise heating and cooling is through the use of ground source heat pumps and district heating technology. However, capital costs are often high, sometimes prohibitively so. To reduce investment costs, it is proposed to use buried infrastructure as sources and stores of thermal energy. Barriers to this innovative approach include lack of knowledge about the actual net amount of recoverable energy, and impacts on the primary function of any buried infrastructure, as well as the need for new investment and governance strategies integrated across the energy and infrastructure sectors. Additional opportunities from thermal utilisation in buried infrastructure include the potential mitigation of damaging biological and/or chemical processes that may occur. This paper presents a first assessment of the scale of the opportunity for thermal energy recovery and storage linked to new and existing buried infrastructure, along with strategic measures to help reduce barriers and start the UK on the journey to achieving of its infrastructure energy potential.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). This is the accepted manuscript of a paper subsequently published in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Smart Infrastructure and Construction. This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/RO13535/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 May 2022 11:00 |
Last Modified: | 27 Jan 2023 11:54 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Thomas Telford Ltd. |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1680/jsmic.21.00018 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:186253 |