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A large-scale ‘underfloor heating‘ project has been approved by the Derby City Council in order to heat council buildings and increase the authority?s commitment to energy-efficiency. The combined heat and power (CHP) system involves creating networks of underground pipes, which carry heating to buildings.
The council’s cabinet member for planning, environment and public protection, Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, said that the system uses a traditional electricity generator to create power, but the heat caused by this process is then ‘piped’ to nearby buildings, giving the system its other name, district heating. Eventually, several generators with their own networks of pipes will be bringing underfloor heating to the city’s public buildings, he said.
The idea was first examined by the local authority in 2009, but it was shelved in favour of a hydroelectric power station which was built on the River Derwent and brought renewable energy to the Council House. With completion of this in sight, the underfloor heating system is back on the agenda, Cllr Dhindsa said. “This technology is especially relevant to Derby as a compact city, he told the Derby Telegraph. It has the potential to provide a locally produced, cost-effective source of energy that could one day power much of the city
