Potterton Commercial’s GeoFlo ground-source heat pump for commercial applications draws heat from the ground at a depth of 1 to 2 m where the temperature is fairly steady at around 10 to 12°C. Upgraded heat is supplied at a higher temperate to water using a plate heat exchanger. The heat can be used for space heating or preheating cold water.

BSRIA claims to have become the first UK laboratory to receive UKAS certification for testing heat pumps and air-conditioning systems to the EN14511 standard.

Dimplex, one of the three approved ground-source heat-pump framework suppliers appointed by BERR, warns that Phase 2 of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme is expected to come to an end this summer. Public and not-for-profit organisations need to be planning now how to benefit from these microgeneration grants while they are still available.

A new approach to extract energy from the ground for heat pumps has been developed by Rehau. PE-Xa Helix probes are sunk vertically 5 m into the ground using a simple auger drill attached to a JCB, eliminating the need for specialist equipment for drilling boreholes. They also overcome the problem of not enough area being available for ground coils.

Exhaust heat sources from a range of systems offer the potential for heat recovery by increasing the COP of heat pumps and through other heat-recovery mechanisms. There is a wide range of applications, as Chris Ree explains.

Dimplex offers a wide range of heat pumps, including ground, air and water source, and has 30 years’ experience of heat pumps in Europe and the UK.

The heat-pump technology centre of Calorex Heat Pumps at Maldon in Essex is equipped with fully working ground- and air-source systems. The centre provides a complete overview of heat-pump technology and its application to buildings.

Daikin’s Altherma heat-pump system for space heating and domestic hot water was one of the key technologies in the eco-renovation of a Victorian terraced house in London by Chris Mead and Jay Hayter for the BBC2 programme ‘It’s not easy being green’.

Mitsubishi Electric’s Ecodan air-source heat pumps are said to reduce emissions compared with modern gas boilers by up to 50% and lower running costs by about 30%.

Carlo Gavazzi offers a digital soft starter with all the features required for optimal control of single-phase compressors such as those used in geothermal and similar heat-pump installations.

Calorex has introduced a bivalent package comprising an air-source heat pump, storage vessel and controls designed to work in tandem with an existing oil-fired or LPG boiler. By using the heat pump for heating on all but the coldest days, fuel use and associated carbon-dioxide emissions are reduced by up to half.

Sanyo Air Conditioners has set up a heating division to develop the market for its heat-pump systems.

Anderson Floor Warming has achieved BRE accreditation as a microgeneration installer of heat pumps, one of only six companies in Scotland to date. Grants for installing heat pumps are only available to applicants using installers and products certified under MCS or equivalent schemes.

Air conditioning is a fact of commercial life to help meet indoor air quality and temperature legislation. Using heat-pump technology in air-conditioning systems can both meet those requirements and reduce carbon emissions — as Philip Ord explains.

Daikin Europe has simplified the installation of its Altherma heat-pump and domestic-hot-water system.

Logic Certification has launched two courses on heat pumps for installers. They cover ground- and air-source heat pumps and are aimed at experienced heating and plumbing engineers.