A pioneering decarbonisation project by a multi-academy school trust is using high-performance CIAT heat pumps to help reduce carbon emissions by more than 9,000 tonnes over the lifetime of the scheme, saving £84,000 a year in energy costs.
Yorkshire-based Abbey Multi-Academy Trust (Abbey MAT) is installing 38 AquaCIAT TD300 air-source heat pumps in five of its schools as part of a £5 million project, funded by the UK government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
The CIAT heat pumps are powered partly by renewable electricity generated by solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays installed on school buildings, further cutting running costs and emissions. During the summer closure, when energy use is much lower, PV energy produced will be fed into the grid, generating income for schools and helping to offset winter energy costs.
"At our large secondary schools, the CIAT units are deployed in clusters in the form of heat pump farms," said David Ryder, Head of IT and Infrastructure at Abbey MAT. "The heat pumps harvest low grade 'free' energy from the environment and upgrade it to a useful temperature, replacing the need for high carbon-emitting gas boilers in the majority of school buildings. The key to success is optimising system performance by adjusting flow rates and set points to ensure comfortable indoor temperatures for students and staff throughout the day and over the year, as seasons change."
CIAT high-temperature heat pumps can generate hot water at up to 65deg C even when the external ambient temperature is as low as minus 12deg C, ideal for use in UK climatic conditions. With a coefficient of performance (COP) of up to four, the units come equipped with an intelligent programmer, enabling users to schedule different set points and flow rates over a weekly cycle – useful for application in schools and other public and commercial buildings with variable occupancy.
“In adopting high performance CIAT heat pumps – with the additional benefit of harnessing solar-generated electricity to power them – the schools have undertaken a major transformation that sets them firmly on the path to becoming carbon neutral. It is a journey that all public and commercial buildings will need to make if the UK is to achieve the nation's strategic goal of being carbon neutral by 2050."
This innovative decarbonisation project is critical to Carrier’s progress in reducing customers' carbon footprint by more than one gigaton, while also achieving carbon neutral operations by 2030, as outlined in its Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Goals.
