The development of VRF heating-only systems by Mitsubishi Electric opens up the boiler room to the air conditioning industry and presents a serious challenger to gas, oil and even biomass boilers as the future of commercial heating. Philip Ord, product marketing manager, explains why this is an opportunity few air conditioning companies can afford to miss.
It's surely obvious traditional boundaries between heating and air conditioning are overlapping, as is shown by manufacturers from other sectors entering the market.

This is a challenge because some new entrants are already household names but it is also an opportunity because the advances made in heat pumps during the past decade place VRF technology in a strong position to capitalise on the demand for lower carbon heating.

Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change last year show around 55% of the energy used in the average commercial property goes on hot water and space heating.

To counter this, most local authorities have introduced the need for developers to demonstrate the use of renewable energy when building or refurbishing commercial properties as part of the planning process.

Larger organisations face the UK's first mandatory carbon emissions scheme. Other changes such as Energy Performance Certificates mean building designers, owners and operators must comply with this need for renewable energy.

For anyone looking to reduce energy in buildings the fact that heating accounts for more than half of all consumption makes this an obvious place to start.
As an industry, we have known about the superior energy efficiency of heat pumps for years and we have seen most manufacturers increase performance and efficiency year-on-year.

While we know we are ahead of the curve with the introduction of heating-only VRF systems which can provide radiant heating, warm air, sanitary hot water, or a combination of all three, we also know other VRF manufacturers will be hurrying to catch up.

Our system is modular, making it ideal for new-builds but it can also be retro-fitted and will work independently or alongside other heating systems.

However, the range of renewable technology on offer is already growing and with government launching a Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI) in 2011, building owners will soon have the chance to earn income from renewable technology. In simple terms this will see energy providers paying users for every kW of renewable energy they produce.

So we will be competing with other more established technologies to expand our industry's reach.

With the ability of heat pumps to harvest free, renewable energy to minimise energy consumption, we all know how effective they can be. So we need to start shouting about the fact that they are classified as renewable technology.
However, although we all know heat pump air conditioning provides very effective heating; the fact that it also provides cooling disqualifies it from the RHI scheme.

Challenge

That is why we have developed this range as heating-only because it has to challenge other renewable systems such as solar thermal, photovoltaic, MicroCHP, and biofuels, which will also be potential qualifiers for RHI.

In our view, though, each of these face limits to their use. For most situations, install costs, or the limits in renewable capacity restrict where they can be used.
Even biomass boilers, which are often touted as the solution, are not without limits as few appreciate how much space is required for secure fuel storage and regular fuel delivery or how often they need maintenance.

In contrast, the installation of VRF heat pump heating is straightforward and they have been designed to suit a wide variety of heating needs. Each unit can supply sanitary water at 70°C, water for radiators and underfloor systems at 45°C or warmed air for a ducted supply system.

This opens up a new market for F-Gas qualified installers and allows our industry to present new opportunities for those ready to capitalise on them.

It's another step away from air conditioning forever being seen as cooling and allows the industry to move into mainstream heating.

Our cost comparisons show ground and air source heat pumps are 47 per cent and 26 per cent less expensive to run a year than natural gas heating, and more than 58 per cent and 41 per cent less expensive than biomass. This is based on annual running costs per kW delivered of £82.36 for natural gas, £102.57 for biomass, £43.51 for ground source to water and £60.71 for air source to water*.

Installing VRF heating systems will already help a building achieve today's and tomorrow's renewable energy targets, reduce emissions, lower running costs and increase control and comfort.

That has got to be an aid to the sales process in anyone's book but the cherry on the cake is that customers also have the real potential to earn money from their heating system under the RHI scheme.

* Assumed 55,887kWh heat delivered annually by a 25 kW system. Efficiency / COP used for calculations = Air to Water 3.69; Ground to Water 5.14; gas 0.95; Biomass 0.85. These figures are calculated using annual temperature profile data from UK weather centres. Each kW of duty required for the building will have an annual cost as above. Prices are from uSwitch commercial tariffs and the Biomass Energy Centre as at November 2009.