SmartConsult were pleased to present at the A2EP heat pumps session at the National Energy Efficiency Conference last month discussing the potential for industrial heat pumps to help phase out gas and decarbonise industry.

At the session Jarrod discussed the A2EP’s work on heat pumps with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and presented the Heat Pump Selection Guide with Estimator that we developed together with Pitt & Sherry, and ARENA supported by Mayekawa Australia and the Australian Meat Processor Corporation.

Last week Regional Development Australia Sydney partnered with A2EP and Local Government Procurement to host a webinar on ‘Optimising Aquatic Centre Energy Use with Heat Pumps’ and discuss sustainability, liveability, carbon reduction opportunities and capturing energy efficiently.

Introduced by Therese O’dwyer of RDA Sydney and moderated by Kylie Hargreaves of A2EP, supported by Tanya Lawler of Local Government Procurement and Jarred Leak of A2EP, guest speakers included: Alan Pears AM of RMIT University and Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity, Amna Abdalla of Yarra City Council and Ross Kingston of Brimbank City Council. Click play to watch the video below. 

Alan Pears AM RMIT commented that “A well designed and maintained heat pump can last for a very long time”.

He added “A heat pump is not much different to a commercial building chiller and we have thousands of buildings with big chillers in them across Australia” he also said “There may be useful heat sources nearby… even a sewer or a water main, or a nearby lake”.

Amna Abdalla, Sustainability Engineer of Yarra City Council said; “Small scale heat pumps for domestic hot water, yes (the lifespan) is about 10-15 years, but if we are talking large scale heat pump chillers we are talking 20-30 years.”

“As a client, be as informed as possible, because there is definitely very dodgy advice around. Doing so, you can filter out the advice and therefore choose the right people to work with”.

Ross Kingston of Brimbank City Council stated “All electric aquatic centres are a no-brainer”.

And “Where we went wrong at the beginning… was to specify a 6-star green star project and think all the great people would just come and coalesce around that and deliver that. That wasn’t enough. If you want to set out on this pathway be very clear in your design brief that you want a fossil fuel free facility and even into detail such as the refrigerant and issues like that”.

It is not enough to say I want a heat pump-based facility:

• You want a zero emissions facility
• With a zero global warming potential refrigerant
• You want it to be an integrated system that incorporates all the energy efficiency goodies that are available

Jarred Leak of A2EP said “We do see this potential of changing to heat pumps away from gas as one of the biggest potentials of CO2 savings for Australia, if every aquatic centre changed. It is not a small amount. Calculations are above 100,000 tonnes per annum of CO2. This is not easily found around Australia: that quantity of savings. It is really quite unusual to be able to find something like this. This is why A2EP is quite passionate about trying to help with some change here”.

To discuss selecting a heat pump for your business, click here to contact us or call 1300 344 388.