SOMEWHERE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Is District Heating a good option for heating our homes in the future?
​
SCHA is looking at all possibilities for improving the energy efficiency of the homes we manage and for reducing the energy costs for our tenants/members. We want to do our bit in achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions and the most significant thing we can do is to choose a low/zero carbon heating sources for our homes in the future.
We have been awarded a small grant by City Leap – Community Fund to investigate the feasibility of connecting four of our Victorian terraced houses to the Bristol District Heating Network. Bedminster is one of the areas in Bristol where the District Heating Network is currently being installed. The future energy centre providing the heat to this part of Bristol will be at the back of our terrace of houses.
So we want to compare connecting to district heating with individual air source heat pumps (the main alternative for low carbon heating).
We have engaged:
Empowered Projects – as our main consultants for the feasibility study.
Building Energy Experts – to survey our four houses
We are also benefitting from assistance from Vattenfall the main contractor installing the Bristol District Heating Network and Supergen (a research project and hub funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council).
​
Should we connect?
​
A short film made by film students from the University of Gloucestershire:
​
​​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​​
​
Feasibility of Connecting Existing Housing to the Bristol Heat Network
This feasibility study focuses on 4 Victorian terraced house administered by SCHA. The key message coming out of the study is that these four houses can't be connected on their own. SCHA needs to work with other building owners in the immediate vicinity to create a community-owned heat network supplied by the Bristol Heat Network. The central recommendation of the study is:
​
"SCHA should pursue the community-owned heat network as its primary decarbonisation
strategy. This pathway offers superior affordability, collective empowerment, and long-term resilience compared to individual solutions."
​
Read and download the full report here​
​​