Zero-emission heating and cooling: Thermoelectric Conversion Systems meets the challenge
Find out about new technology from Thermoelectric Conversion Systems that eliminates emissions from heating and cooling systems.
14 July 2024 | 4 minute read
In Scotland, heat is the largest single source of carbon emissions and represents 51% of our energy demand. Decarbonising heat will be a major step towards our world-leading target of becoming net-zero by 2045.
And, while we may not think of Scotland as a warm place, cooling systems throughout the country also generate an enormous number of harmful emissions.
The decarbonisation of heating and cooling systems, both on a domestic and commercial scale, represents a great challenge and opportunity for meeting Scotland’s net zero targets and supporting global net zero ambitions.
Glasgow-based company Thermoelectric Conversion Systems Ltd (TCS) builds and develops solid-state heating and cooling systems which, most systems, do not produce any harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
The environmental impact of heating and cooling systems
Most existing heating and cooling hardware uses a vapour compression system filled with environmentally harmful gases, such as refrigerant gases, to power its operation.
Refrigerant gases are a powerful type of greenhouse gas (GHG) that, when released into the atmosphere, cause significant damage. Many examples of hardware that use refrigerants can be found in your own home – from your fridge to your heating. When you scale up these essential systems for industry, the emissions scale up too.
Food refrigeration in the UK food and drink industry alone is estimated to be responsible for between 2% and 4% of the UK’s total GHG emissions. As such, the total GHG emissions from heating and cooling systems across industries in the UK is significant. So, the demand for the decarbonisation heating and cooling systems is essential to reduce and, eventually, eliminate the impact of GHGs and achieve global net zero ambitions.
TCS’s mission to eradicate heating and cooling emissions
Jonathan Siviter, Director of Thermoelectric Conversion Systems Ltd, is passionate about “leaving the planet in a better state than we found it”.
He founded TCS, which builds and develops solid-state heating and cooling systems, with a view to eradicating the harmful refrigerant emissions from current systems.
So, how are they doing this? Jonathan says:
“Anything heating and cooling has a gas inside it, which is harmful when released. Our technology doesn’t use gas at all. Instead, it’s a solid-state, zero-emission semi-conductor, so you don’t have any emissions,” Siviter explains.
“Our vision is for a decarbonised future, without any GHGs. The heating and cooling systems we’re developing can drive heating and cooling in both domestic and commercial properties, eliminating the need to use systems that are environmentally harmful.”
“While there is work already being done to reduce the emissions from heating systems, moving from gas to electric boilers, for example, our technology takes this a step further so we can eradicate emissions from heating [and cooling] systems entirely.”
The challenges of TCS’s new technology
We’re at a pivotal point with the climate crisis where action is needed urgently, which presents a challenge for businesses like TCS.
“Everyone wants everything done now, and by yesterday. But it’s knowing that you need time to develop it, to get it to a point where you are happy with the technology, and you’ve got something that’s able to meet everyone’s expectations.
“When you’re at that point, another huge challenge is getting governments and consumers to engage with a new system. We have to take it one step at a time and show people what it’s capable of to let them gain confidence in how it works.
“This is where Scottish Enterprise support has been invaluable. It’s helped us making the right connections, so we’re talking to the right person at the right time, at the right level.”
How we’ve supported TCS so far
At Scottish Enterprise, we put net zero at the heart of everything we do, and we’re already ready to support companies with innovations that can help Scotland and the world achieve net zero.
TCS initially received support through our Heat Accelerator Programme to develop its vision and unlock potential growth. Beyond that, though, we helped the company make connections to a range of people, from industry experts to target customers to help it better understand how its technology can be adapted to better fit their requirements.
For Siviter, the support has been a key factor in the company’s ambitions: “Scottish Enterprise has been very important in helping the business to understand how big the market could be. Setting our sights, helping us set our sights higher, and helping us move in the direction that we can begin to unlock that growth.”
“What I’ve found to be so exciting about working with Scottish Enterprise is their team’s appetite for growth. They really see that businesses do have the potential to grow quickly, and grow significantly in Scotland, targeting not just Scotland or the UK markets, but much further afield where their technology or their services can have an impact.”
What the future looks like for TCS
Decarbonising heat, both in Scotland the rest of the world, is a key focus area in the energy transition. With such a great demand for a more sustainable solution for heating and cooling systems, the growth potential for TCS’s technology is enormous.
“There’s nothing like our technology anywhere else in the world. We’ve got technology that can revolutionise heating systems in Scotland beyond, but it works equally well when it’s reversed, and it tackles the global cooling challenge,” Siviter explains.
For TCS, Scotland is an essential stepping stone to helping solve the global challenge of heating and cooling systems.
“We talk a lot about the impact of refrigeration systems and the emissions from these. They’re everywhere, in every single building we walk into, every single house we’ve ever lived in, or ever will live in will need some kind of heating or cooling system. The market’s huge, and it’s only going to get bigger as the population increases and our demand for thermal comfort, and for high temperatures and heat when we need it, and cooling when we need it, too.”
“Cooling systems in the southern hemisphere, for example, is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases. And there’s an opportunity to mitigate the warming effects and the GHG emissions from these cooling systems, as much as there is from eradicating gas boilers and other fossil fuel generators from heating systems in the UK.”
Looking ahead, Siviter is excited to get TCS’s technology out into the market and across the world:
“I want to take the company from being an SME, through to a global manufacturer, and beyond. And I’m really excited to work on the next phase of our business with Scottish Enterprise’s support.”
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