District heating is a hot item in the United Kingdom. Earlier this month, the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said that it will create the UK’s first test standard for heat interface units (HIUs).
HIUs are the devices that divert heat from the network into structures. This is an obviously critical element that, according to the story in Heating and Ventilation, often fails to perform adequately in U.K. district heat networks.
The test methodology was adopted from a Swedish method under funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
District heading also is seen as a key tool elsewhere in the U.K. On January 24, the Scottish government released a draft climate change plan. The government aims to produce 80 percent of residential heating from low carbon sources. Scottish law firm Brodies LLP points out that low carbon is not synonymous with renewable and commercial and industrial use are not included. It calls the target “transformative” nonetheless.
The analysis at Lexography says that district heating is one of the strategies that will be used. Scotland plans to regulate district heat. The piece points out Scotland will do so before England, which also has plans to regulate. Usually, the commentary says, England leads and Scotland tweaks and adopts.
Decentralized Energy this week that the U.K.’s Chief Energy Advisor at the Danish Embassy said that the British district energy business is booming. Ian Manders said that the value of the market has risen from £76 million to £350 million in just one year.
The newest member of the district heating club in the U.K. is IKEA. Last week, the company said that its new store in Sheffield will include district heating.