Most of us have a gas or oil boiler for heating our homes – they have been reliable and relatively cheap for decades. However, they cause pollution and carbon emissions, harming both our health and the natural environment. Replacing oil and gas heating with electric boilers curbs these problems and supports national sustainability goals. An electric boiler called the Zero Emission Boiler by Tepeo stores heat for efficient, sustainable energy use in our homes.
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In homes worldwide, heat gets lost through insufficient heating and inefficient heating systems. Home heating is one of the greatest sources of carbon emissions that worsen global warming, being the largest contributor in the UK at around 20%. They are also a detriment to our health, as particulates from domestic boilers are major contributions to inner-city air pollution that harms the health of resident communities, shortening average life spans and worsening illnesses.
Oil and gas have been considered reliable modes of heating but should be ruled out for a more sustainable future. In the UK, new oil and gas boiler installations will be phased out as early as 2025, the UK government announced, in line with national plans to reach net-zero goals by 2050.
The Zero Emission Boiler: A Low-Carbon Alternative
Innovative engineering company Tepeo comments that “the decarbonisation of heating is arguably the biggest unanswered challenge of industrial strategy” and anticipates that the future of heating should be clean, green, and affordable while supporting our worldwide climate change mitigation commitments with the transition to net-zero.
The company’s Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB) technology revolutionizes the way we heat our homes. It is a low-carbon alternative to a gas or oil boiler, heating our homes affordably while lowering our carbon footprint. This replaces a gas or oil boiler that relies on fossil fuels, being a low-carbon solution without compromising on performance, while also storing heat for central heating and hot water.
The boiler can be used in conjunction with other sustainable energy devices such as solar panels on the roof. It can store excess electricity generated without losing it by exporting it to the grid. This does not mean that nothing is contributed to the grid, which supports the power networks of local communities. ZEBs help to make electricity on the grid more reliable by giving it back up sources of energy, since energy tends to be generated infrequently from wind and solar. Wind and solar energy can be harnessed in a reliable, timely way.
What Makes the ZEB Unique?
The uniqueness of the technology is down to how it works at the core. In the center of the boiler, there is an insulated storage core where heat is stored. When heat or hot water is needed, air flows around this core and moves the heat to the heat exchanger. Water flows through this heat exchanger, warms up, and travels to radiators or taps in the home.
Other electric boilers out there in the market do not work quite like this. Fundamentally, ZEB stores heat, rather than just heating the water up for heating and hot water as and when it is needed.
Some models can store up to 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of heat and charge at a rate of 9 kWh per hour. It is unlikely that much heat will be held onto all the time, so ZEB has been designed to keep energy use to a minimum. It is a cleverly constructed system that optimizes our home’s heating and hot water habits. The technology can even prepare ahead for the weather forecast and expected demand in the near future.
Heating for a Decarbonized World
ZEB can be a great sustainable heating solution, acting as an oil and gas replacement.
Loosening our reliance on fossil fuels through alternative technologies such as ZEB gets us closer to a more hopeful, sustainable future for our planet. These products will help industries and homes decarbonize and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions that continue to exacerbate climate change.
Tepeo states on its website:
Our technology will enable the rapid decarbonisation of domestic heating with no additional upfront or running costs to homeowners while supporting the transition to a decentralised, decarbonised and democratised energy system.
Tepeo’s technology contributes to a cozy home during cold winter days and reduces harmful impacts on the environment. Such alternatives will be required if we are to have a more sustainable future.
ZEB will be a catalyst for change in how we heat our homes, without heating the planet.
References and Further Reading
Heating costs: Gas vs oil vs electric storage heaters [Online]. OVO Energy. Available at: https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/heating-costs-gas-vs-oil-vs-electric-storage-heaters
Tepeo – homepage [Online]. Available at: https://tepeo.com
Tepeo – the ZEB [Online]. Available at: https://tepeo.com/thezeb
Tepeo Zero Emission Boiler [Online]. Available at: https://www.boilerguide.co.uk/articles/tepeo-zero-emission-boiler
Tepeo are electrifying heat for a greener future [Online]. Octopus Energy. Available at: https://octopus.energy/blog/tepeo/
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