BetaTalk - The Renewable Energy and Low Carbon Heating Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Nathan chats to Iain from Edinburg Heating about his journey into heat pumps. Iain has been using Barry at Renewable Heat (and a BetaTalk regular guest) as a mentor. Training course are discussed as well the barriers micro-businesses face in transitioning from boilers to heat pump heating systems. SEASON TEN IS SPONSORED BY Ultimate Renewable Supplies Support the show Learn more a...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan welcomes back to the show Trystan and Glyn, the brilliant team behind heatpumpmonitor.org BetaTalk would also like to mention the legendary John Cantor , one of the UK's first ever heat pump gurus, who has helped the team develop this wonderful learning tool  This show is PACKED with fantastic information so check out the chapter markers if you need to find specific pi...

Send us Fan Mail Notorious heat pump design expert Michael, from Option Energy Solutions in Brighton Sussex, comes on the show with Tom from Somerset. Tom runs Arlow Plumbing and Heating and has a team of five involved in the installation of gas and oil boilers. Tom started installing heat pumps quite a few years ago and has recently teamed up with Michael who has provided some mentorship. The con...

Send us Fan Mail The microgeneration certification scheme (MCS) recently became aware of a non-certified business targeting and encouraging MCS installers to break scheme requirements.  We chat to Ben who has recently become MCS registered to discuss the situation along with his transitional journey into the world of heat pumps.  We also discuss a current topical: Government funded heat pump train...

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast Nathan chats with his friends Barry from Renewable Heat and Matt from Matt Rigby Heating Ltd. The guests and Nathan discuss Matts journey from a gas engineer to a heat pump engineer. It mentions how Barry has provided mentorship which is a far better way to help gas engineers transition than the current system of just sending them on a powerpoint course. This seaso...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan was kindly invited by the Heat Geek team to host a podcast at their Installer Show stand where he chatted to Adam Chapman, founder of Heat Geek and Karolis Petruskevicius the brains behind Homely The discussion involves what is currently happening in the heat pump industry as well as Homely's heat pump optimisation tool.   Enjoy! Support the show Learn more about heat...

Send us Fan Mail Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Nathan chats with Fiona, CEO of SNIPEF and Barry, a regular podcast guest and a Snipef member.  Snipef presented talks at the Green Homes Festival during Edinburg Festival month and Nathan discusses the talks with his guest and the potential Edinburgh has in switching to heat pumps Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin...

Send us Fan Mail This is the second episode of the special Heat Pump Ready podcast series, in collaboration with the Carbon Trust with funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.  In this episode, Nathan talks to 4 Heat Pump Ready projects to discuss ‘How Innovation can improve the heat pump survey and design process’.  Key topics discussed include:   - Ways to improve heat loss...

Send us Fan Mail Emma Bohan from IMS Heating came up with the idea for surveying heat pump installation companies big and small. She brought me on board with the project and I had Nesta help with the construction of the survey and its analysis. The podcast episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Installer Show 2024 with some audience questions at the end. Take a look at the survey...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of season 10 which is being sponsored by Ultimate Renewables Supplies Nathan speaks with Madeleine Gabriel the Mission Director for  Sustainable Future mission at NESTA and Adam Bell, formerly a civil servant at DECC, BEIS and DESNZ and now policy Director at Stonehaven. Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twit...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I spoke to Nigel Banks, Technical Director at Octopus Energy. Nigel is  author of Fabric Fifth which many now see as the common sense approach to retrofitting and decarbonising homes.  Nigel spoke in a personal capacity. I was extremely grateful he came on the show.  I have been critical of Octopus in certain regards but am also well aware they are doing important...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan sat down with three regional winners for the 2024 Heating Installer Awards. They explain their winning installs as well as well as discussing the current trends happening in the industry Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail Nathan was grateful the IMA reached out to ask if their CEO, Simon Storer, could  come on the podcast to contribute to a very interesting debate. Nigel Banks from Octopus (who wrote this fabric article ) was scheduled to appear on the show and will  be coming on for a follow up episode. Nathan was very grateful Richard Erskine,  who could step in at short notice to be a guest host...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan sat down to chat all things heat pumps and training with Clayton Brown from CB Heating. EDF acquired CB Heating back in 2022 which is one of the largest heat pump installation entities in the UK.  EDF’s strategic investment and partnership with CB Heating have supported the development of the HPIN Academy. This academy provides free training to upskill engineers at every le...

Send us Fan Mail Heat pumps move energy from and energy source e.g. air, ground water (hence they are called :air source, ground source) to a sink. The sink is the emitter system within a home e.g. radiators, underfloor heating (UFH) and fan coils. Engineers, Installers, designers and the occupants of a home rely on radiators having accurate power output data. Unfortuanlty, it looks like their is...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Nathan chats to Paul Eastwood, Head of Energy Systems Planning at OFGEM and the past Senior Climate and Energy Advisor at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Also joining the heat pump conversation is engineer Barry Sharpe from Renewable Heat   The discussion focuses on what an ideal customer journey is. Paul has had a heat pump system after Nathan re...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan chats to Barry Sharpe from Renewable Heat , Emma Bohan from IMS Heat Pumps and Steve Webster from EGE Energy  about the MCS hybrid consultation, heat pump training as well as glycol and anti-freeze valves. Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail Sweden have had a long tradition with heating technologies and have incredible expertise regarding heat pumps.  Nathan talks to the Swedish company AIRA, the new entrant to the UK's heating and home renewables industry.  AIRA will be installing heat pump and other technologies across Europe bringing their expertise first to Italy, Germany and the UK. It's a great episode...

Send us Fan Mail As the title states, you are a very special group of people to me. You listen to me ramble on about heating for a start and I am very grateful for that.. So, thank you. I appreciate that very much. This is the first episode of 2024 and I wanted to do something a bit special. Something for you. As you know, this podcast is called BetaTALK... and the talk aspect is very important. I...

Send us Fan Mail Season 9 is sponsored by Grundfos and in this episode Nathan speaks to James  Twallin about the software and codes behind the heating industry.  Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Nathan chats to Paul Spence, a very competent and highly regarded heating engineer. Paul installs a range of heating system types including heat pumps. It's a long but highly interesting episode. If you want to hear Paul's credentials first skip to around the 1hr 05 min mark... and then come back to the beginning of course. Paul also runs the facebook gro...

Send us Fan Mail Here is the link to the heat pump installer survey (lot's of prizes to be won) In this episode Nathan speaks with Glyn Hudson and Trystan Lea who along with open source enthusiasts have created open energy monitor and heat pump monitor . Heat pump installers and consumers are installing monitoring equipment such as heat meters onto their heat pump systems to obtain COP readin...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan speaks with Sandra Trittin, co-founder of tiko Energy Solutions and co-host of the podcast Talking New Energy from LCP Delta.  Joining Sandra is Talking New Energy's other host Jon Slow partner at LCP Delta. The discussion centres around how we may be able to heat pumps, batteries and EVs as as virtual power plants to increase the  flexibility of the grid . Take a list...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of a new season Nathan chats to James Macnaghten, CEO of Caldera. Caldera manufacture and supply thermal storage solutions for industrial heat processes. Get early access to their investment opportunity here Thank you to season sponsors Grundfos  Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky