New plans have been unveiled by Kingston Council in partnership with Thames water which would implement England’s first sewage powered heating scheme. More than 2000 homes, primarily in Kingston’s largest council estate on Cambridge Road, would be heated with green energy in the first phase of these plans, which makes use of energy recovered from the sewage treatment process. The model has the potential to be scaled up to heat homes across the nation, should the scheme prove to be a success.
Under the plans, up to seven gigawatt hours of heat (equivalent to over 25 trillion joules) would be supplied by a network of pipes to the Cambridge Road Estate as part of a series of ongoing and planned green renovations which also include the construction of an additional 114 new council homes. In the future, the scheme is expected to cover buildings in Kingston’s famous riverside town centre.
The technology, which has been widely labelled as ‘poo power’, works by diverting sewage water, which has been naturally heated following its treatment, to an energy centre in pipes instead of depositing it back into a water source, in this instance the Thames. The water undergoes further heating to over 65 degrees centigrade and is then in turn used to heat a separate system which is connected to the housing development. According to Thames Water, this will save around 105,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years, which is roughly the same as 157,000 return flights from London to New York.
Liberal Democrat councillor Caroline Kerr, the Leader of Kingston Council, said that the project “shows that we are serious about reducing carbon in the borough,” and that the council aims “to make new homes in Kingston among the greenest in the country.”
The move to green energy comes as part of the shared goal of Kingston Council and Thames Water to cut carbon emissions, with the local Council aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2038 (12 years ahead of the Government’s current nationwide plan, whereas Thames Water has committed to reaching that goal by 2030 in the wake of a series of pollution related penalties which culminated in a record fine of £20.3 million in 2017.
Following feasibility studies funded by the national Government and the Greater London Authority over the last 2 years, an application has been made to the Government to fund the implementation of the project, the outcome of which is expected to be announced in March.
