With the entrance of the winter season, speaking about ways of warming that require much energy worldwide consumed annually to overcome cold returns. It adds tons of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, so the risks threatening the planet are getting worse.
According to statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA), about 50% of the energy needed by the world's buildings in 2022 was consumed for heating or water heating.
Eco-friendly alternative
One of the exciting experiments that scientists are conducting to find a more sustainable method of heating is currently taking place in the UK, and those in charge of it hope that it will contribute to dispensing with traditional methods, especially when the electricity needed to operate it is obtained from clean energy sources such as solar energy.
Heating homes contribute about 20% of the UK's annual greenhouse gas emissions, according to UK government statistics.
The city of Glasgow in Scotland is applying the experiment to a group of old houses built before 1919 that are not well insulated, using wallpaper that converts electrical energy into heat that is emitted throughout the house.
Scotland, which is known for its cold weather, is known for its old buildings and the difficulty of insulating their walls. Moreover, more than 80% of its homes rely on dirty energy, according to the Interesting Engineering website.
The secret is in “graphene”
The idea of the project, which began in Scotland, revolves around relying on wallpaper containing electrically conductive graphene.
In his interview with “Green in Arabic”, Dr. Ahmed Taha, a lecturer at the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Scotland, says that the idea depends on printing graphene on wallpapers, a one millimeter thick layer, then add copper slices on each edge of panel edges. When conducting electricity through panels, the graphene emits infrared radiation—a low-energy form of light—which warms the room.
The project is funded by the “Scotland Beyond Net Zero” initiative, which brings together climate and sustainability experts from across Scotland’s universities, and also involves the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, the West of Scotland Housing Association, and Glasgow City Council.
Taha likens the feeling of heat released by this technology to the feeling of stepping out of the shadows into a bright, sunny area.
As for the belief that relying on these panels contributes to improving air quality, the researcher indicates that it is still under investigation, but the initial hypothesis depends on several things, including: The infrared rays emitted will not contribute to heating the air, but rather to heating the belongings in the users’ surroundings, in addition to contributing to getting rid of moisture and mold.
Taha hopes that the idea will be a source of inspiration and contribute to future ideas for adopting this technology in the Arab region and various regions of the world, but he stressed that it will not be a viable solution without relying on renewable energy sources, pointing out that electricity based on traditional energy does not serve the goals of reducing carbon emissions, and its cost exceeds that based on gas.
Multiple advantages
According to the BBC website, the advantages of this idea include the ease of installing the panels, which can heat the place in just 3 minutes when turned on, and they can be installed in some rooms and not others, and they do not emit any harmful fumes that affect air quality.
A similar plan is underway in Nottingham, England, using this method to heat buildings that would otherwise be too expensive to insulate and install heat pumps.
In a statement to the BBC, Dr Mike Siebert, a lecturer at the University of Nottingham, and a specialist in low-carbon construction, said that all the results they have reached so far regarding this idea are positive, whether related to health, climate impact or cost, adding: "It's hard to find any downside."
