Scots urged to use heat from rivers and sea

A top academic has urged Scots to harness the hidden heat in their rivers using heat pump technology – or face being left behind in a technology race with Scandinavia.

Prof, Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering at Glasgow University, encouraged Scotland not to ignore the potential of watercourses and deep mine workings as a source of warmth.

Speaking before a landmark Scottish Renewables event at Glasgow University, Prof Younger said: “As is so often the case, the Norwegians saw the light earlier than us, and heat-pump technology built on the Clyde is now heating the city of Drammen by extracting thermal energy from deep fjord waters.

“Meanwhile the Clyde, Forth, Moray, Tay, Solway – our own ‘fjords’, and the source of the word ‘Firth’ – flow by, delivering their renewable thermal content to the open ocean unused while heat poverty is such a problem for so many.”

Water from underground mine workings can also be used to feed heat pumps. Professor Younger’s research has found that of less than 20 examples of this worldwide, two are in Scotland – one heating homes in Shettleston, Glasgow, and another in Lumphinnans, Fife.

The findings were made public ahead of Scottish Renewables’ Harnessing Heat from Rivers event, to be held at Glasgow University on September 10. This free event will hear from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Green Investment Bank, Scottish Government and Glasgow company Star Renewable Energy, who built the heat pump in Drammen, Norway.