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In this episode Nathan chats with Fiona, CEO of SNIPEF and Barry, a regular podcast guest and a Snipef member. 

Snipef presented talks at the Green Homes Festival during Edinburg Festival month and Nathan discusses the talks with his guest and the potential Edinburgh has in switching to heat pumps

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This is the second episode of the special Heat Pump Ready podcast series, in collaboration with the Carbon Trust with funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. 

In this episode, Nathan talks to 4 Heat Pump Ready projects to discuss ‘How Innovation can improve the heat pump survey and design process’. 

Key topics discussed include: 

 - Ways to improve heat loss calculations, the limitations of standard methods and the potential role of measured heat loss in heat pump surveys.

 - Innovative tools to improve and streamline the survey process, potentially reducing the need for surveyors to visit properties to generate quotes and system designs 

 - What tools do engineers and installers need to deliver an excellent result to their customers? 

A summary of the speakers and their Heat Pump Ready projects is provided below:

Thomas Whiffen – GEO

Utilising data from an existing portfolio of energy modelling and smart thermostat technologies, GEO is looking to provide a solution that will deliver an estimate of a heat pump system required for a property before a boots-on-the-ground assessment.

Hermione Crease – Purrmetrix

Working with Hoare Lea, this project will use in-home energy monitoring to calculate the heat loss of a property and provide a forecast of appropriate heat pump products that would suit the homeowner. 

Richard Jack – Build test Solutions

In conjunction with Veritherm and Elmhurst, Build Test Solutions use their expertise in measured domestic energy use to determine an accurate heat loss of a property, which can then be used for accurate heat pump sizing. 

Griff Thomas: Heatly

Using just your phone camera and the Heatly app, this tool will allow a homeowner to conduct a building survey themselves and receive a complete heat pump design. Supporting both installers and homeowners. 

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the participants and do not represent the views of the Government or the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

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Nathan chats to Barry Sharpe from Renewable Heat, Emma Bohan from IMS Heat Pumps and Steve Webster from EGE Energy about the MCS hybrid consultation, heat pump training as well as glycol and anti-freeze valves.

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Low temp heating design along with heat pumps is todays discussion at the HQ of Grant who are well known in the industry. 

Grant is essentially an off-grid company known in the heating sector for their oil boilers, heat pumps and Nathan’s favourite: Solar Heat or also known as Solar Thermal.

Nathan gets to chat with Grant’s training manager Phil, and two of his favourite engineers Paul and Steve.

You will hear the following topics:

Low Temp system design and weather compensation

Grant’s history

Transition of oil installers to low carbon technologies

Heating system monitoring

The importance of commissioning.

We will also hear Paul’s story of how he convinced a developer to use heat pumps on their property rather than gas boilers and also how he uses analogy to help explain such systems to customers.

We hear Grant explain the importance of heat loss design and radiator sizing and Steve’s conversation about architects highlights whether there needs to be more consideration at the house planning stage for such an important aspect of the home.

Enjoy and please leave a review to help others find these podcasts. Thank you

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Ground source heat pumps is still the topic at Kensa. Lots of topics to listen to including:

• Kensa explain how they are part of the commissioning process 
• Bill explains the importance of installers and customers understanding controls 
• We discuss how heat pump systems run very differently to conventional systems and training currently has not been great
• Dp manufacturers drive the market?

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Kensa Ground Source Heat Pumps are the topic of this weeks betatalk  podcast.
Nathan took along some of his usual guest engineers to Kensa's HQ to have a chat about heat pumps, training and their "shoebox" design for district and community heating systems.

Topics discussed are:

• Geology of the UK 
• Drilling bore holes for heat pumps
• Calculating the ground array for ground source heat pumps
• Shoebox vs heat interface units
• Can the grid cope with heat pumps
• Nuclear is bad for the environment

It's a good episode...enjoy

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Meet Emma, Sue, Alan, Lee and Andrew members of a team based in Sheffield and Perth Scotland who specialise in heat pump installations. With over a 100 years of combined experience Nathan enjoyed his visit to chat with the team.

Nathan and Emma chat regularly on Social Media and her passion about standards and design within this sector really shows through. Listen till the end where you'll hr Emma make some fantastic points.

Alan installed his first heat pump back in 1996 and he talks about design of the system and how it is vital for efficiency and performance. A theme which betatalk inculcates. 

Hear Sue and her fascinating insight into the development and evolvement of MCS.

Other topics discussed are MVHR and PAS 2035

Its a great episode...enjoy

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In this episode Nathan travelled to meet Rebecca from Building People and Abi Burns and Leah Robson from Your Energy Your Way. The discussion considered inclusion and diversity within the renewable and construction sector.

Abi comes from a research background and is now training with Your Energy Your Way so we touched on training within the renewable sector.

Leah does a grand job of describing a sunamp heat storage unit to Rebecca and how they work with a phase change material PCM.

You can hear also how Leah entered the industry having previously come from an IT background and her passion for installing heat pump and solar technology.

Your Energy Your Way is an MCS [Microgeneration Certification Scheme] certified company and you can find more about them here https://www.yourenergyyourway.co.uk/

Building People, much like Your Energy Your Way have a focus on training and diversity. They are a social enterprise and have three founding partners: Chartered Surveyors Training Trust, The Chartered Surveyors' Company and University College of Estate Management and you can find them here https://www.buildingpeople.org.uk/

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Carbon capture storage, gas networks, Future Homes Standard it's all discussed in part 2 of Ken Bone and Nathan's trip to Cornwall to meet with Richard Lowes. In this episode we are also joined by Sovay Berriman who discusses her transition into the heating world from art and higher education.

At the beginning of the episode you will hear Richard talk about the ways engineers can help shape policy. It's not easy but he gives examples. He also mentions a study which was carried out by Faye Wade at Edinburgh university which sounds extremely interesting.

Richard is part of the energy policy group at Exeter and he has become a valuable part of the heating community. 

Both Nathan and Sovay have PGCE qualifications and they discuss the lack of evidenced based learning within the heating training sector

Take a listen and enjoy

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Energy and sustainable policy is the topic of this episode. Nathan travels to meet with Richard Lowes, a wonderful gentleman well known in area of heat policy within the UK. Richard has worked on policy regarding the future of the gas grid and started a PhD in 2014 which looked at the development of policy within the heating industry: how it started and how different interests lobby. A main question being asked by academics is: " do industries in the market help drive change or hinder it?"

Not only was it interesting to discuss Policy with Richard we also Ken Bone and I also discussed his new heat pump install, which is a NIBE air source installed under the Nu - Heat umbrella MCS scheme. Richard is Cleary happy with it but discusses with us how he felt "to many cooks can spoil the broth" You can listen to discover what he means.

You can also hear Ken discuss weather compensation curves and low temperature heating. 

There's also discussion about the risks manufactures pose to industry.

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Nathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky