heating

In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to pass laws to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Yet in late 2021 at COP26, the UK government itself admits they are falling short of the ambitious target, to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035.

Following the October 2021 publication of both the Heat and Buildings Strategy (HABS) and Net Zero Strategy, and the GLA’s updated London Plan, the UK now has a defined route to net zero and reinforcing regulations will soon follow. But what will this look like for residents within social housing apartments, where green technology is not immediately practical to install?

Introducing the new Digistat – an innovative range of universal wired and wireless digital thermostats. Bridging the gap between traditional and smart heating controls, the new Digistat is simply smarter. Providing accessible and easy-to-use heating controls for all tenants with differing requirements in just four variants.

Social and commercial landlords across the UK are missing out on tens, if not hundreds of millions of pounds worth of funds that are available to them through the Energy Company Obligation 3 (ECO3) fund which ends in April 2022.

ECO3 is the government energy efficiency scheme that was launched to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty. Under ECO medium and larger energy suppliers fund the installation of energy efficiency measures in British households as part of an agreed commitment.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news recently and especially stories about carbon reduction targets and the build-up to COP26 in Glasgow, you can’t have missed mention of heat pumps.

There has been good, bad and uninformed comment but the main message is clear: Heat pumps are here now, and they offer a viable solution to heating our homes in a low carbon way that will help tackle climate change.

And the country really needs to find a way to decarbonise society, if we are to get anywhere near the ambitious targets for carbon reduction that the government has signed up to.

And this is where heat pumps can really help!

We are extremely proud to announce that we are once again finalists in the 2021 H&V News Awards.
Our innovative Titon Ultimate® dMEV and Titon FireSafe® Air Brick products have been shortlisted in the ‘Domestic Ventilation Product of the Year’ category.

What do the pioneering ReFLEX Orkney project, the unique ‘Solopower’ solution, and the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator all have in common? They are either led by or partnering with one innovative energy services company, SMS plc, which is on a mission to support housing organisations with long-term sustainability and fuel poverty targets.
The intelligent application of distributed green energy technologies – in tandem with new financing solutions that aim to make mass rollout across UK homes realistically deliverable and widely affordable – has potential not only to help Britain fully decarbonise, but also dramatically reduce rates of fuel poverty in the process.

Stockport Homes are upgrading the heating system to low rise apartments in the Lancashire Hill area in Stockport. This has been driven by a requirement to improve system efficiencies and reduce costs for residents, and as part of these works Essco Energy are supplying heat interface units to replace individual hot water tanks in each home.

This social housing scheme features 292 homes that are connected to a district heating network that supplies six buildings, all of which are managed by Stockport Homes. This type of system was originally installed as it operates with lower carbon emissions when compared to individual gas fired boilers in each home.