A ground breaking step in providing alternative sources of heat for some of the council's housing stock is being unveiled at this week's Chartered Institute of Housing Conference taking place at Harrogate's International Conference Centre.

 

Stoking their old solid fuel boilers or using expensive storage heaters will be a thing of the past for elderly residents as eight old peoples' bungalows in Copt Hewick are being provided with heat pumps that will derive their source of energy from under ground. 

 

There is no gas in the village and five of these properties currently have coal fires and back boilers while the other three have electric storage heaters.  Neither system is efficient and both are expensive to run and the council was keen to explore more fuel-efficient alternatives for them.

 

Providing this new source of energy is an exciting development as Harrogate Borough Council becomes the first local authority in the country to provide homes with this source of energy.

 

Councillor Jean Butterfield, Cabinet Member for Housing, said:  "People are getting used to seeing solar panels where energy is derived from the sun above ground.  But this is a new and exciting development sourcing that same energy from under ground.  It is a huge step in our commitment to use renewable energy whenever possible." 

 

Under ground heat source pumps are widely used in Scandinavian countries and throughout Germany but the technology is only just starting to appear in this country.  It is being imported by Ice Energy from Oxfordshire who are providing the council and its heating contractor, Helplink, with advice and guidance throughout the installation period.

 

"Whilst this is obviously a new direction for us, we are already confident that residents will have more money in their pockets", added Councillor Butterfield.  "Using this new technology, and tapping into the under ground source of energy to heat water and run central heating systems, means residents will use about a third of the energy used by their old systems. "

 

The system works by burying energy collection tubes which use the constant temperature of the ground as a source of heat.

 

Ice Energy has confirmed that this system will work even on the very coldest days.   On the very rare occasions when there is an extreme cold snap, the system contains a back up electric heating system.

 

Helplink have been filming the Copt Hewick project which will be shown at the Chartered Institute of Housing Conference.  ENDS