Glazed flat-plate collectors and vacuum tubes are widely used for solar water heating and space heating systems in all types of buildings. Unglazed plastic collectors are used exclusively for lower temperature applications, such as outdoor swimming pools or the agrarian business.
Flat-plate solar collectors are likely to dominate the market for the next five years, particularly as they can be easily integrated with roofs, have a long life, and perform better than other types of collector.
Heat pumps
Heat pumps are refrigeration devices that can extract heat from the air, water, or the ground. The technology is able to operate in reverse to provide cooling. Heat pumps are available in three basic types of heat pump: air-to-air, air-to-water, and ground source heat pumps.
The air-to-air heat pump market is the largest in volume, supplied by the global air conditioning industry. The main markets for water heating are China, Western Europe, Japan and USA.
The UK heat pump market has been relatively small compared to other European countries such as France and Germany. However, the market is growing from a smaller base, estimated to be around 800 units in 2005 compared to an estimated 500 units in 2004.
Ground-source heat pumps dominate the market (81 percent) whereas air-to-water was estimated to represent 19 percent of total installations in 2005. Very few companies market the small exhaust-air heat pumps for the generation of hot water only.
BSRIA believes that the future for heat pumps in the UK looks promising. Manufacturers and importers of mostly Swedish and German heat pumps are confident that tighter energy efficiency requirements in building legislation will be tightened to include the refurbishment market. Most suppliers of conventional heating equipment have already diversified into heat pumps.
Combined heat and power
Small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) is plant with an electrical generating capacity of less than 1 MWe. Worldwide, this accounts for the vast majority of CHP installations but a relatively low proportion of generating capacity.
Small-scale CHP is associated with industrial plants, or commercial or housing developments where there is sufficient local demand for heat and power to reduce the need for extensive distribution networks. Mini-CHP plant represents the smallest of these applications - smaller commercial, institutional and multi- dwelling sites.
There are three types of micro-CHP technology being developed: fuel cells, Stirling engines and Rankine engines (external combustion engines), and micro-CHP based on internal combustion engines.
In the short term, fuel cell-based appliances are unlikely to provide an economic means of producing the thermal output required for heating-led applications, and external combustion and other developments are unlikely to achieve the electrical efficiencies necessary for viable power demand led operation at the level of the individual dwelling.
BSRIA believes that development and wider commercial availability of attractive fuel cell-based micro-CHP appliances will not immediately render other technologies obsolete. The main potential for fuel cell-based appliances is in power-led applications or where there is low thermal demand.
With the UK set to become the world's largest condensing boiler market in 2005, micro-CHP must be compared to Sedbuk A boilers (greater than 90 percent efficiency) and Sedbuk B rated boilers (86 - 90 percent efficiency) as the new standard in conventional heating. During 2004, the condensing boiler became very price competitive as economies of scale helped to push down prices.
As a consequence there could be a greater marginal cost of micro-CHP products. While there should be some positive effect on installers being trained for more energy efficient heating, it cannot be assumed that the condensing boiler revolution about to take place in the UK will assist the market for alternative heating technologies.
For more information contact Worldwide Market Intelligence at BSRIA:
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 465600
or Email WMI