By Isabel Schestak
The Heat Recovery Toolkit was launched on March 24 2021!
Designed to support commercial kitchens interested in recovering heat from their drain water, it was introduced to the participants of our sustainability webinar “RECOVERING HEAT FROM DRAIN WATER - MAKING IT HAPPEN”. Participants had the opportunity to test the tool using either their own kitchen data or a set of data provide by our team.
Recovering heat from drain water has been estimated to be financially viable for 90% of commercial kitchens in the UK. Apart from delivering savings in energy costs, it is also a great way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy use and make kitchen operations greener, contributing to climate change mitigation targets..
The toolkit is specifically designed for commercial kitchens, including all types of food outlets, such as restaurants, pubs, cafés, or canteens, including catering in schools, universities, hospitals or care homes.
The users can learn about the potential heat recoverable from their kitchens, operational cost savings and installation costs, as well as the potential carbon emissions saved. Only little data required to get an individual estimate of how suitable a kitchen is for drain water heat recovery: data on water consumption or number of meals served and on the currently used energy for hot water.
The heat recovery system considered in the toolkit uses a simple double walled copper pipe as heat exchanger for direct heat recovery – no heat pump needed. The heat exchanger is easy to install wherever a part of the kitchen drainpipe can be replaced and has been widely used for shower heat recovery, for which it was originally designed.
Didn’t have the chance to attend our webinar? Don’t worry. The toolkit is now available in our Cluster Members Only Area together with the recording of the webinar. Not a member? More details on how to become a member here. To join, click here.
You can contact Isabel (Isabel.schestak@bangor.ac.uk) or Roberta (bellinir@tcd.ie) for any questions feedback or expressions of interest to collaborate. If you think you or your organisation would benefit from a live online demonstration session of the toolkit and more background on heat recovery from kitchens, we are available to discuss it further. As part of our Business Support service, we can carry out assessments for heat recovery for free. Contact us!