Written by John Swire
A UK innovation that takes items previously destined for landfill and uses them to heat water has successfully been installed at Hillers Farm Shop in Worcestershire.
Hailed by the BBC as potentially ‘The Next Dyson’, the HERU, in addition to diverting “waste” from the rubbish tip, has the potential to help users save up to 15% on their fuel bills while reducing their overall carbon footprint. According to environmental consultants Ricardo, the HERU also has 300% less global warming impact than co-mingled recycling collections and 280% less than kerbside recycling collections compared to traditional “waste” collections, the HERU
The HERU unit at Hillers will be used as part of continuing technical trials, following a recent operational HERU at Wychavon District Council. The unit will be monitored remotely in real-time, in order to assess the progress around energy efficiency, usability and qualification criteria for the Renewable Heat Incentive for cardboard, paper, food and trimmings.
Emma Taylor from Hillers Farm Shop said: “We have been looking forward to taking delivery of the HERU, which we are happy to announce is now in situ at our restaurant – we are filling the HERU daily with food offcuts and packaging, thus greatly reducing the waste that has to be collected.
Whilst we are all so conscious of waste in this day and age, we are astonished at the technology and the results that this machine can achieve which, in turn, have such a positive impact on the environment. This advancement is enabling us to be constructive in our need to eradicate unnecessary waste and, with such a technical machine, the process is so simple for us to use.”
The HERU takes household items, which would have previously been destined for landfill and heats them within the HERU in the absence of oxygen (allowing pyrolysis to occur). The resources become char, oil and gas. The HERU processes the oil, so it is safe to discharge and utilises the gas and heat that has been produced together with a domestic boiler. A single cycle of the 19 litre home sited HERU can produce a 30°C temperature rise for around 70 to 120 litresof water a day, which is equivalent to a full bath.
Inventor and CEO of HERU, Nik Spencer commented: “We are absolutely thrilled that the HERU is up and running at Hillers. The feedback that HERU received from everyone at Wychavon District Council is fantastic and it is great to hear that those who are using the HERU everyday felt that it made a very noticeable difference to both the amount of resource that was being disposed of previously and the energy contained in the resource, once discarded as “waste”, can be utilised whilst reducing CO2 emissions.”
Emma Taylor from Hillers added: “The knock-on effects of this trial are astronomical and while we are extremely pleased with the HERU’s performance for our own use, we are so excited with how our involvement in this initiative will not only dramatically decrease our rubbish and recycling, but the growth of the concept could change the way we all manage the resources around us.”
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