Fresh from allegations that Whitehall officials are blocking Boris Johnson’s hydrogen plans, it now appears that officials are planning to embarrass the Prime Minister by adopting the much ridiculed industrial policy that gave the EU “milk lakes” and “butter mountains”. Hidden in the detail of the recently published Heat and Buildings Strategy, officials at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are plotting to force British heating appliance manufacturers to make heat pumps, regardless of whether the public want to buy them or not. Under what is known as the “market mechanism” current boiler manufacturers will be told by Whitehall officials how many heat pumps they need to make or risk being heavily fined if they don’t obey the instruction. Similar policies adopted by the EU in the past, led to excess supply over demand and the obscene creation of wine lakes and butter mountains. “This is the most un-Conservative industrial policy I have ever seen. To force successful British businesses to make what Whitehall officials want, rather than what consumers want, is an extraordinary degree of state-meddling,” said Mike Foster CEO of Energy and Utilities Alliance. “If consumers want heat pumps, then these manufacturing businesses will make and sell them. But to be fined for not selling something the public currently don’t want is bizarre, more so when Cabinet Minsters accept that heat pumps aren’t yet ready for the mass market. It is almost as if Whitehall officials are deliberately trying to embarrass the Prime Minister by using the tactics he has previously derided the EU for using. It’s the Revenge of the Remainers within BEIS.” “But the most disturbing aspect of this policy is the sheer lack of understanding in how markets work. If the Government want heat pumps installed, it needs to make them more attractive to consumers. According to the PM, they cost ‘ten grand a pop,’ well beyond the reach of most. People can’t afford them. Without consumer demand, business won’t supply products for fear of creating a mountain of unsold heat pumps filling warehouses across the land, all because Whitehall thinks it knows best,” Mike concluded.

Back in 2012, the English Housing Survey took an in-depth look at the energy efficiency of the country’s housing stock. It found that social housing was leading the field, with an average Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating of 65, compared to just 57 for the private rented sector. The most recent English Housing Survey to provide a snapshot of energy efficiency is the 2019-20 report. It found that energy efficiency had improved over the preceding decade, with the proportion of dwellings in the highest EER bands (A to C), rising from 12% to 40% between 2009 and 2019. Social rented homes continued to be the best performers, with 61% in bands A to C in 2019, compared to just 38% of homes in the private rented sector. The average cost to move a property from EER bands D to G up to a band C rating was estimated to be £8,110. The cost varied across tenure, from the cheapest being housing association dwellings (with an average of £5,910) to the most expensive being owner occupied homes (£8,579). Just 2% of properties were found to be unable to reach band C at all. With an average annual energy cost saving of £298 because of upgrading a home to band C, it would take the average property over 27 years to start benefitting financially from doing so. Hence the need for government incentives to speed up the upgrading of English homes’ energy performance. Heat pumps are an interesting example of this. In 2019, just 103,000 homes in England had a heat pump – well below 1% of total housing stock. The government has now announced a £5,000-per-household grant to encourage the installation of heat pumps. However, that will cover the installation of just 30,000 heat pumps per year. How the government target of installing 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 is to be met remains unclear. Some of those likely to be near the front of the queue for the new heat pump grants are England’s landlords, as all new tenancies will require an EPC rating of band C or higher by 2025. Proptech investment platform houzen is supporting landlords and owner-occupiers alike to reach band C or higher with its in-depth sustainability reports. The tech-driven reports provide owners with the means to see quickly and easily how their properties measure up in terms of their environmental impact, as well as how they can enhance their sustainability. They blend expert knowledge with AI and Computer Vision to consider how homes perform in respect of 27 measures that impact the climate.

Following the warning from the CEO of National Grid around tighter electricity supplies, Mike Foster, CEO of the not-for-profit energy trade association the Energy & Utilities Alliance, the not-for-profit trade association that provides a leading industry voice to help shape the future policy direction within the sector, has issued a reply. With energy policy updates expected form government over the coming weeks, Mike registers his deep concern for the potentially disastrous impact this will have on the public being able to heat their homes this winter in the following comment: Responding to comments by the Chief Executive of National Grid made yesterday, Mike Foster Chief Executive of Energy and Utilities Alliance said: “The man charged with responsibility for keeping the lights on yesterday issued a stark warning to the UK and to Government. He forecasted that the margin between electricity supply and demand would be tighter than in recent years; in other words, there was a heightened risk of blackouts, of losing supply. “This is as serious as it gets. Ahead of the winter, policymakers have been warned. On top of spiralling price rises, there is now a real threat around security of supply. The energy trilemma is starting to bite. “But it’s actually worse than this. There are some politicians calling for all gas centrally heating to be provided for by electricity. That’s an enormous amount of energy that the system hasn’t been designed for. We have been warned about keeping the lights on this winter, imagine the situation if we add winter heat demand to the load. “It won’t be just lights going out, or industry told to stop production, it will mean people going cold in their homes at a scale not seen for generations. It would be the height of irresponsibility to put all of our energy eggs into the electricity basket. “But we do need to achieve net zero. For that reason, for the majority of UK homes currently using natural gas for warmth, should keep their boilers and just have the gas switched to hydrogen. This will take place over a number of years, firstly with blending and then wholesale network conversion. We did it with the digital TV switchover and this is the way to keep people warm and the lights on.”

Whether a power supply is being used in life-saving pieces of medical equipment, in transportation systems or even in a PC, all relevant parties need to be confident it will have a significant life cycle. This means they want a reliable piece of equipment that proves to be good value for money. As such, when creating a power supply, designers must make numerous decisions that will impact how long it is likely to last. Here are just three examples of things to be considered. 1.    The electrolytic capacitor The electrolytic capacitor is ultimately what determines how long a power supply lasts as it has a  finite lifespan — in other words, it is the only part that wears out. As XP Power’s technical director Gary Bocock explains: “Electrolytic capacitors are an essential component of AC-DC power supplies. They provide high Capacitance x Voltage (CV) and low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) in low-volume packages. There’s no alternative part that can do the job cost-effectively.” Choosing the correct one is crucial when designing a long-lasting power supply. Electrolytic capacitors manufacturers will specify the design lifetime at the maximum rated ambient temperature (typically 105°C), which can be anything from 1,000 hours to 10,000+ hours. Applied ripple currents also cause power dissipation within the electrolytic capacitor, and according to Bocock: “The maximum ripple current that may be applied to the capacitor is usually specified at maximum ambient temperature and 100/120 Hz.” Manufacturers must assess probable durability in order to help designers select the most appropriate electrolytic capacitor for the power supply they are creating. 2.    Thermal management All power supplies generate heat as a by-product to some degree, but it is critical to manage the temperature in order to prevent damage that could decrease the life cycle of certain components within the power supply. As noted by O’Reilly Media, overloading, fan failure, inadequate air flow inside and outside of the system, and dirt and dust are just a few potential causes of overheating that can contribute to a reduced lifespan. Designers should consider incorporating cooling systems in order to dissipate heat and reduce potential damages. For example, installing a fan will be far more effective than natural air convection. However, as important as cooling is, designers also need to consider how a particular cooling system could impact other aspects of the power supply. In this case, a fan will consume power and therefore reduce the efficiency of the power supply, and may also be noisy. This won’t necessarily be an issue for all power supplies, but depending on the context, other cooling systems could be more appropriate, such as a heat transfer plate or maybe even a liquid cooling mechanism. 3.    Insulation materials Choosing the correct insulation materials is vital in terms of both safety and efficiency. According to Bright Hub Engineering, examples of suitable options include “PVC, glass, asbestos, rigid laminate, varnish, resin, paper, Teflon, and rubber”. While designers may decide to use a variety depending on the particular power supply they are creating, they should avoid mismatched or incompatible insulation materials. Although combining different types may seem like a thoughtful way to ensure adequate voltage withstand capability, mixing insulators with varying degrees of permittivity means there will be uneven electric field intensity across the insulator, as per Kirchhoff’s Law. This could cause it to break down, which is why designers must keep this in mind when selecting insulation materials.