Dirty Energy: How do we clean up our act?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about whether heat pumps are a good idea considering the dirty energy mix used to power them.

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There is no doubt that moving away from fossil fuels is a good thing, but we also need to make sure we’re headed in the right direction.

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Other than the fact that these resources are finite, the GHG emissions they produce are something we won’t miss while we reduce their usage. ? ? ?? ??

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But they are not the only GHG emitters – the cleantech space isn’t as squeaky clean as we’d like it to be.

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Green pollution is going to become increasingly obvious when we have to deal with the aftermath of sacrifices made to reduce CO2 emissions. This will include second and third-order effects as well.

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But I digress, let’s get back to the main question.

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Can heat pumps help clean up the existing energy mix?

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Abso-fricking-lutely! ?? ?? ??

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The EU’s target of 90% renewable energy by 2040 is extremely ambitious and actually a bit of a shock.

Why?

Because the current grid (which is actually a mishmash of varying grids) can’t support such an objective.

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Renewables have a volatile output, which means that a 90% sun and wind powered grid would be extremely susceptible to sunlight and wind conditions.

That would require energy storage.

A lot of energy storage…????????????????????????

Have you seen how much energy storage solutions cost? ??????

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Other options would be to reduce energy consumption through greater energy efficiency, to decentralize energy production to minimize transfer losses and storage needs, to establish live tariffs with smart meters, and to implement peak shaving.

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We could, of course, invest more into enlarging renewable capacity that would waste the excess energy ????, or we could implement load shedding ??, providing extremely poor service.

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Peak shaving is similar to what we learned during the covid pandemic as “flattening the curve”, essentially trying to establish flat consumption patterns that don’t allow for too many peaks and troughs.

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Peak shaving is also important because what defines a grid’s required capacity is the peak output, not the median output.

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But peak shaving can only be practiced properly if there are “carrots and sticks” in place to motivate proper consumption patterns, as well as the mechanisms for achieving this.

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But what if we could use existing heat pumps to store energy in the form of heat? ????

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Last week, Matic Goter presented our concept of “The Ecosystem” where we could do this in Slovenia using our customers’ heat pumps (currently 25.000+), which we estimate would represent up to 150MW in 2030 (estimating 50.000 units in Slovenia alone).

That’s a lot of energy to move around! ???

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And the energy used could be produced in off-peak times when it is abundant and cheap, while the heat stored could be accessed during peak times without burdening the grid.

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Heat pumps only represent a small amount of the energy consumed currently but will use up to 4,75% of the grid’s output by 2030.

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This could increase capacity demands but will also make a significant contribution to peak shaving.

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But is this possible?

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???? Yes again!

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Developments in IoT, phase-changing materials, smart timers and programming are all tools that could make thermal storage more efficient.

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Phase-changing materials alone can 5x thermal storage capacity. Now that’s a lot of thermal storage!

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We’ve been aggressively investing in the R&D of these and other tools, and we’re certain that it’s only a matter of time for thermal storage to become the breakthrough that energy policymakers need to ease the burden on the grid.

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This is just the beginning.

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Removing up to 5% of peak loads could be a massive gamechanger for the grid.

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It’s not a panacea, but it certainly could provide a safety buffer that prevents brownouts or overinvestment in excess capacity.

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So, in that case, heat pumps would mostly be using renewable energy, “fresh” off the grid and storing it so that there is no strain on the grid when the sun is down and there is no wind.

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What’s not to like?

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So, in a future (just around the corner!) where 90% of the grid would be powered by renewables, and heat pumps contributed to the grid’s load balancing, how on this green earth could anyone possibly call a heat pump an environmentally unsound choice? ??????

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