Extracting heat from the sewers.

[cupid_stunt]

This report caught my eye this morning, what a brilliant idea.

Progress has been made on the Worthing Heat Network (WHN) which will see heating and hot water for key Worthing buildings produced by the mains sewer.

At a meeting of Adur and Worthing Councils’ joint strategic committee on Thursday (October 7), members heard that a bid for £5 million in funding from the government Heat Networks Investment Programme (HNIP) had been successful.

Following investigations into Worthing’s sewers, it was discovered that there is enough heat for the new network to replace gas boilers – a major step forward in the plans.

When the WHN is operational, a pump would capture heat passing through the mains sewer, which runs below Worthing’s high street, thus providing sustainable energy.

Here’s how sewers will help Worthing cut its carbon emissions

Progress has been made on the Worthing Heat Network (WHN) which will see heating and hot water for key Worthing buildings produced by the mains sewer.

www.worthingherald.co.uk

There's a project already running in Scotland.

Heat from waste water technology prevents energy – and money – literally going down the drain. Thanks to things like showers and washing machines, the average temperature of waste water that runs through the sewers beneath our feet is 15 degrees. This energy can be captured to create sustainable, low carbon heat.

The technology works by using a combination of heat exchangers and heat pumps to harness otherwise wasted heat from drain water to capture energy and use it to provide sustainable heat or cooling.

The technology can be installed in a wide range of building types including hospitals, universities, prisons, leisure centres, industrial manufacturing or campus-style environments.

Heat from Waste Water - Scottish Water

heat recovery from waste water and how we use this renewable energy source at Scottish Water

www.scottishwater.co.uk

 

[JuanTwoThree]

Hot shit!

Joking aside it sounds like something for nothing once the system is installed and has paid for itself.

 

[WouldBe]

I can see big problems with that. Heat exchangers need a large surface area which will reduce the flow rate in the sewer an will rapidly get clogged.

 

[platinumsage]

I can see big problems with that. Heat exchangers need a large surface area which will reduce the flow rate in the sewer an will rapidly get clogged.

You could just lay a ground source heat pump pipe along the bottom of all the sewer pipes surely? Although if it worked too well it might freeze up all the sewers.

 

[WouldBe]

You could just lay a ground source heat pump pipe along the bottom of all the sewer pipes surely? Although if it worked too well it might freeze up all the sewers.

You'd need miles of pipe to heat a commercial building. You need something like 300m to heat a single house.

 

[Dogsauce]

You'd need miles of pipe to heat a commercial building. You need something like 300m to heat a single house.

Sewer water at 15 degrees is warmer than ground source which iirc is typically around 10 degrees, so won’t need as much.

 

[WouldBe]

There's also the problem that ground source heat pumps only really work well in very well insulated buildings so you would have to retrofit insulation for it to be effective which in a commercial building or a hospital would be a nightmare.

 

[platinumsage]

I think I'll file this along with "dropping weights down mine shafts" for now, in terms of ideas that will meaningfully contribute to net zero by 2035.