Commercial //
Heat Pumps
Commercial Heat Pumps
Research from MIT shows that healthy buildings provide landlords with a greater return on investment, too. Effective rents at healthy buildings get between 4.4 percent and 7.7 percent more rent per square foot than their nearby peers that are not WELL or FITWEL certified, according to research by MIT’s Real Estate Innovation Lab, which analyzed public databases and rents in 10 major American cities.
A survey in Canada found that 74 percent of owners and architects believe that new green/healthy buildings are worth more in asset value than new non-green buildings. The median level for that additional value was reported at 7 percent.
“More and more studies are pointing to the idea that healthy buildings make workers more productive and happy, driving returns for the company through the efforts of those workers,” he says.
Reaching Net Zero
To reach the UK’s Net Zero 2050 target we need to reduce heating emissions by 95%. For any building owner or operator a similar target applies. Decarbonising heat offers substantial carbon savings that will contribute towards net zero and can be measured and reported under disclosure such as TCFD or SASB.
This level of reduction requires a substantial shift in heating technologies towards renewable energy. We cannot reduce carbon emissions from heating sufficiently if we continue to use natural gas or oil to heat our homes. Natural gas and inefficient electric heating in buildings can be phased out and replaced by a combination of technologies.
In all the scenarios and predictive models heat pumps have a major role to play as they are the most scalable solution that is available right now. Heat pumps offer; flexibility on input fuel prices, no on site emissions or air pollution, minimal or no infrastructure upgrade and highly integrateable with other technologies.
Heat pumps can operate at standard building temperatures, as with all technologies improving the system operation will lead to further efficiencies. Commercial buildings often call for both heat and cooling at the same time, a heat pump is an effective way to transfer thermal energy from one location to another. Using thermal storage (hot, cold or both) can buffer any time lag in demand.