THE HERU WE NEED: TURNING WASTE INTO HEAT IN OUR HOMES
David Hilton investigates the HERU, a hybrid boiler that can create energy from waste
In the quest to find newer and better sources of energy for our homes we have been focusing a lot of our attention on renewables. While domestic-scale renewables have their limitations – for example, photovoltaic panels only generate electricity when the sun shines and battery storage is currently expensive and limited in its use – on a larger scale we have seen exciting projects that create energy from waste.
Creating energy from waste seems like a good idea because if materials decompose in landfill sites the carbon emissions are released in time anyway. Anaerobic digestion allows for the capture of methane gas that is released by the fermentation of organic products, and this gas is then redeployed back into the gas grid or combusted to generate electricity. This process has been largely rolled out to capacity, especially on farms with lots of organic waste.
Another process being implemented by the gas grid operators is the gasification of waste (including plastics but not including metals) to create synthetic natural gas (SNG). This gas is also then injected back into the gas grid or mixed with propane to create a low carbon liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
A WORLD FIRST
There is, however, a domesticscale product that can make energy from waste. The Home Energy Recovery Unit (HERU) is an innovative hybrid boiler marketed as a world-first global solution: it utilises a thermochemical decomposition process called pyrolysis which, in the absence of air, converts substances into oil, synthesised gas and char.
According to the manufacturers, HERU enables you to use most of the waste products that you bring into the home, including paper, card, packaging, plastic, garden waste and leftover food — in fact, anything from coffee cups to nappies (but not metals or glass as they require higher temperatures to break down) can be used to generate energy for the home. The process is simple to operate — it requires a water supply, a standard 32A cooker socket, and a sewer connection.
HERU is synchronised with a gas or oil boiler (turning it into a hybrid heating system) which means that the central heating system can run via HERU, or revert back to oil or gas as and when needed. The process uses a heat treatment to break the materials down and produces an average of 2.5 times the amount of energy used to run it.
HERU is currently undergoing technical field trials in the UK before it is brought to the mass market, which will be further supported by some of the UK’S leading manufacturers.
The unit takes no more space than a dishwasher or washing machine and could potentially become the new must-have for family homes, lowering the need for waste to be collected and lowering the overall CO2 emissions of the home in the process. The indicated cost of around £19,000 is a little high but, as with everything, we would expect the costs to drop dramatically if the HERU gets mass produced.