Low-Carbon Heat Conference 2021

Turn up the Heat

The decarbonisation of heat is one of Scotland’s most significant environmental and economic challenges.

Heat makes up more than half of the energy used in Scotland, so decarbonising it is essential if we are to meet our targets for 2030 and beyond. The Scottish Government has bold plans, including the doubling of the number of heat pumps installed every year for the next five years and converting more than a million homes and 50,000 non-domestic buildings to zero or low-emission heating systems by 2030.

Renewable technologies like heat pumps and solar thermal panels provided just 6.5% of Scotland’s non-electrical heat demand in 2020, and we are missing our target of 11% by 2020. To meet these targets, we’ll need to investigate several different approaches that will deliver zero-emission heating.

Renewable heat is the next big part of Scotland’s energy transition and offers significant opportunities to deliver a green recovery which will create new jobs and deliver environmental and social benefits for every community. Read more. 

Site Visit, sponsored by Star Refrigeration

Star Refrigeration are pleased to offer delegates of this conference a site visit to see first-hand the UK’s largest high temperature river source heat pump facility. 

Developed by West Dunbartonshire Council on the site of the former John Brown’s shipyard the project was designed and delivered by Vital Energi. It is an extensive development with connections to both new build and existing buildings being achieved over the next few years. 

Harnessing the ambient heat of the Clyde Estuary, with two ammonia heat pumps, the project has extremely low carbon outcomes, often seen below 5% of those achieved when burning gas. The heat pumps can deliver up to 5.2MW of heat at 80C and a coefficient of performance above 3.0 (3 units of heat per unit of electricity used).

Star Refrigeration and Scottish Renewables look forward to sharing this opportunity with you to see what is already an iconic addition to the Clydebank landscape and a beacon for countries and cities around the world as they ramp up their climate ambitions ahead of COP26.