BetaTalk - The Renewable Energy and Low Carbon Heating Podcast

Send us Fan Mail This was a recorded live show at Installer 2023 and featured Ian Rippin from MCS along with Ken Bone and Leah Robinson from Your Energy Your Way. Ian discusses the consultation and the new changes coming. Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail Econic is a new venture from Nathan's friend Christophe Grossbaier. Its aim is to make the transition from gas boilers to heat pumps smoother for both customers and installers and uses a hybrid heat pump business model to achieve this. With an engineering background and Masters from Cambridge University, Christophe appreciates heat pumps can heat almost any building but under...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan dives into the history of heating systems and looks at why chemical inhibitors were introduced to prevent corrosion. He also points out that manufactures are possibly misinterpreting the building regulations e.g. they are getting confused with a requirement within the building regs  and the guidance contained in an approved document. It also takes a look at the Benchmark sy...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Nathan interviews Faye Wade, his favourite academic researching the heating industry. This is because Faye understands that the most vital component of the industry is the engineer and that we need to really listen to them. Joining Faye are Nathan's friends Leah, Sovay and Rhiannon who are all involved in installing and maintaining heating systems. This is a f...

Send us Fan Mail Alongside usual episodes from the BetaTalk Podcast, Nathan will be helping the Carbon Trust and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero disseminate knowledge around the learnings from the Heat Pump Ready Programme with around 10 extra podcast episodes. This is episode 1 of these special Heat Pump Ready bulletins.   The Heat Pump Ready Programme is part of the The Net Zero I...

Send us Fan Mail In this conversation Nathan chats with Jonny Hancock, product manager at NIBE about some of the products and solutions they have on offer including their new exhaust air heat pump being launched at the InstallerShow 2023 You can find the links discussed on the show below NIBE Training University of West London PVT case study Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by f...

Send us Fan Mail *Update: in this episode Damon and host Nathan realised after editing there was a mistake. An easy one to make as engineers like Damon have so many numbers running around in their head. He mentions he sizes radiators to 50°C when in fact Damon is one of the engineers who designs to a lower flow temp of 40-45*C for a radiator heating circuit. In this episode we speak to the fabulou...

Send us Fan Mail I really enjoyed this episode chatting with Andrew Middleton , Managing Director at British Gas Zero and Steve Petrie , regional manager at British Gas Zero who also is a former British Gas engineer. I brought along for the ride my friend Adam Gilhespy from Carno to help me host the conversation as he also is a former British Gas engineer and like Andrew  understands strategy and...

Send us Fan Mail Recycled refrigerant and Energy Performance Declarations are discussed in this episode alongside the wider discussion around whole life carbon and the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Nathan's guests are: Ryan Philp, the Business Development Manager at Daikin  Ellie Burkill, Energy Sustainability Consultant at XCO2 Sara Godinho, Associate at XCO2 To hear what Daikin are...

Send us Fan Mail The BetaTalk podcast speaks to friends at Kensa about their approach to using heat pump technology for domestic heating. Nathan and Wouter Thijssen, MD at Kensa Contracts, explain 5th generation heat networks (known as ambient loop) and how they are different to other types of district heating. For more info about the  check out the links below ITV NEWS Financial Times BBC Support...

Send us Fan Mail Fantastic guests and a fantastic episode which digs deep into the Energy Performance Certificate.  Nathan is joined by Madhuban Kumar, CEO of Carbon Laces; Stuart Fairlie, MD of Elmhurst Energy and Marcus Shepheard from the Climate Change Committee   Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail Lots of frustration among gas engineers. Do we value the work they have been doing for so long? They are an incredibly important sector of the heating community as we will be relying on them for the transition. Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail This is the 100th episode so a big thank you to all the listeners and all those who have taken part. BIG THANK YOU TO MyEnergi who are this season's sponsor It features  European policy expert Louise Sunderland from the RAP UK policy and innovation expert Guy Newy from Energy Systems Catapult (past sponsor of the podcast) AND expert heating engineer  Welsy Hort from West Hamp...

Send us Fan Mail Mark from the architectural practice LEAP discusses with Nathan airtightness, ventilation, thermal comfort and passivhaus. Questions arise such as should more loft insulation be put in and how windows ideally should be fitted. A few papers are mentioned and the links can be found here: Passivhaus Secrets (Free Documentary Case Studies) Passivhaus Training Thermal Bypass Risks Supp...

Send us Fan Mail Measuring Heat pump system design with Brendon from Heacol Link to slides for the test can be found here THE TEST RIG Brendon discusses how he first designed the test rig with Ulster University  for testing the heat pump he had built which is specifically adapted for UK climate, the UK's building stock and how the homes in the UK are commonly heated e.g. a combi boiler. When...

Send us Fan Mail We chat to Szymon from Urban Plumbers who is now installing heat pumps to get a glimpse into that journey. Szymon has a great YouTube channel which you can find here Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail Nathan chats with Tarik Bellahcene from the European Heat Pump Association about Keymark Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Linkedin , Twitter and BlueSky

Send us Fan Mail We spoke with Graeme Fox from BESA about the first world ventilate day. You can watch live also their webinar which will also be recorded 12:00pm GMT - Tuesday 8 November 2022 Join our panel of experts as they discuss how good ventilation can improve health and wellbeing as well as protect buildings. We will share top ventilation tips and practical solutions to implement your home...

Send us Fan Mail We chat to Phil Jones from Alpha about boilers and their need to be working better with proper control.  We also mention the hybrid offering from Alpha where for aprox. £3100 a home owner can have a new boiler which is connected to a 4kW fan coil unit outside. Enjoy the  episode and thanks for listening  Support the show Learn more about heat pump heating by following Nathan on Li...

Send us Fan Mail Fantastic episode with Barry who runs Renewable Heat up in Scotland. We discuss his heat pump journey as well as his work with the plumbing and heating association Snipef. We discuss lots such as MCS, the NIBE PVT system, sizing heat pumps and the new service which www.heatpimpsurvey.com provides which measures rather than calculates heat loss. We also mention how some of the old...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan chats to the MD of EOGB about a UK first - a domestic modulating oil boiler. The boiler uses open therm to modulate the flame and will output different flow temps to the radiators or other heating emitters.  Nathan starts the episode with a little pre-amble about the importance of flow temps constantly changing to match the demand of the property.  Enjoy! Support the show L...

Send us Fan Mail We are joined by Richard Burrows from Mid Wales Plumbing and Heating Supplies who is an expert on heating control strategy. Richard talks about the types of modulation - load compensation and weather compensation and how all boilers should be controlled this way. To understand modulation I have written an article with a f unny analogy here With advice about turning boiler temperat...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan chats with his friend Dave who runs and owns Condensate Pro and now Primary Pro. Primary Pro is a polyethylene product which comes pre painted making it easier to use than class O insulation. He has also developed Bond & Seal which can be applied all weathers unlike the contact adhesive which is used for Class O. The conversation is a useful resource for people wanting...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan is a big supporter of diversity within the heating industry and this special episode is the first ever BetaTalk podcast takeover e.g. Nathan is not in it.  The episode has been hosted by three remarkable women who are involved in  plumbing and heating: Sovey, Leah and Rhiannon. They interviewed one of Nathan's friends Andy who has been involved in the industry for quit...

Send us Fan Mail Nathan has a great chat with Daniel Newport from the Tony Blair Institute for Climate and one of his regular renewable heating engineers James from Elite Services Group based in Hull. Daniel previously held a senior position at BEIS and was part of the team that introduced the target of 600,000 heat pumps by 2028. All sorts of interesting stuff in this episode.   Support the show...