A zero-emission boiler for home heating
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A new electric boiler could help transform home heating and deliver greater flexibility to the grid
Spotted: With around 17 per cent of all UK carbon emissions coming from home heating as of 2019, it’s probably time for a new approach. One way to decarbonise home heating is to electrify it, but this imposes additional peak loading on the electricity grid and reduces flexibility in the system.
The solution that startup Tepeo has come up with would electrify heating, but decouple electricity demand from consumption – giving the grid more flexibility. Tepeo would accomplish this with its Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB), an electric boiler which works like a battery. The ZEB’s smart tech charges its core using green energy at the cheapest time of the day. Then, it releases the heat to radiators and hot water tanks as needed.
The ZEB uses a closed loop system in which the air picks up heat from the core and then transfers it to a heat exchanger, with the central heating water running through it. Specially designed channels within the core optimise how heat is transferred around the system. At the same time, the ZEB uses machine learning (ML) to project a heating usage profile for the house and then plan an optimised charging schedule – taking into account the electricity tariff at different times, grid carbon intensity forecast, available green energy, and charge rate.
The company has recently secured £10.5 million (around €11.9 million) in a Series A funding round led by BGF. Tepeo hopes this money will enable it to scale its manufacturing and commercial operations, expand across the UK, and decarbonise our heating faster.
Replacing gas and oil heating with green electricity is going to be an important part of the drive to net-zero. In addition to Tepeo, Springwise has spotted a number of innovators aiming to help with this. These include a startup working to electrify all home appliances, and company advancing the move to geothermal heating and cooling.
Written By: Lisa Magloff