The Kensa Group was delighted to have been asked to shoot a short film for RE:TV showcasing our low carbon ground source heat pump products and infrastructure solutions as we work towards net zero.
RE:TV (https://www.re-tv.org/) was founded by His Majesty King Charles III alongside the Sustainable Markets Initiative at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January 2020. They create short inspirational films about innovative ideas relating to the climate and biodiversity crisis.
Kensa was honoured to be asked to create a short documentary ‘Kensa: Clean Energy From Beneath our Feet’, alongside RE:TV. The film showcases the part ground source heat pumps can play in tackling the climate crisis and how Kensa is helping to lead the country’s transition to renewable energy.
RE:TV visited Kensa’s Head Office at Mount Wellington Mine in Truro, Cornwall to film the documentary as well as featuring footage from our landmark social housing retrofit project in Thurrock, and our ground-breaking initiative Heat the Streets – the UK’s first in-road installation of ground array infrastructure.
Director of Strategic Development, Dr Matthew Trewhella talks about the underused potential of stored solar energy to replace fossil fuels. He says:
At the moment, more than 80% of our home are heated by burning natural gas, which releases carbon dioxide that is contributing towards climate change. The solution to heating our homes, all this time, has been right here beneath our feet. Kensa is reducing the carbon impact of heating our homes.
Dr Trewhella also talks about how ground source solutions can be applied across all parts of the UK, including terraced homes and highrise buildings in major cities, through Networked Heat Pumps – a 21st century equivalent of the gas grid.
Director of Sustainability, Ieman Barmaki, explains the work he does with local authorities and social landlords on securing feasibility studies and funding opportunities that allow them to invest in ground source. Through this work, Kensa helps protect the more vulnerable people in society who might not have a say in the type of heating system they use in their homes from fuel poverty.
He comments:
I think the key is to tackle the decarbonisation of heat at scale and make heat pumps available option to everyone.Mass adoption of heat pumps would mean lower carbon and better air quality all round.
Head of Research and Development, Adam Brann, chats through how a heat pump works using Kensa’s demo unit. He explains that heat pumps work by extracting energy from the ground that remains at a constant temperature year round, which is then upgraded into usable heat.
In heating mode, we’re moving energy from the ground into the home, and in cooling mode we just reverse that.
Adam says:
I think it’s quite poetic that [Mount Wellington Mine is] a place where we previously took minerals and coal out of the ground and burned it to create heat, and now [Kensa is] moving to a solution where we only take heat out of the ground, leaving everything else untouched, making a positive impact on the environment.
