Waste heat from the London Underground network began providing heating to 1,350 homes, a school and two leisure centres in Islington on Friday, thanks to a pioneering energy centre opened in Bunhill this week.
The Bunhill 2 Energy Centre – the first of its kind in the world – turns heat generated by the Tube’s electric motors and brakes into hot water using an underground fan which extracts warm air from the Northern line tunnels.
The two-metre fan, installed in the disused City Road underground station, can also be reversed to help with cooling the Tube tunnels during the summer months.
The energy centre and new pipework also give the existing Bunhill Heat and Power district heating network the potential to power up to 2,200 homes in the coming years. Moreland Primary School has become the first school to be connected to the network, which also serves the pool and facilities at Ironmonger Row Baths and Finsbury Leisure Centre.
How the energy system works
The energy system reduces heating bills for council tenants connected to the network by 10 per cent compared to other communal heating systems not powered by the Bunhill 2 energy centre. Carbon emissions and air quality in the borough will also be improved, with people connected to the centre helping to reduce CO2 emissions by around 500 tonnes each year.
In addition to heating homes, the centre’s technology also generates electricity that is fed back into the London Underground network and an adjacent tower block, powering its communal lighting and lifts.
A series of cast aluminium reliefs, designed by Scottish artist Toby Paterson, decorate the bottom half of the building at pavement level. Paterson also produced the patterned glass for Stratford’s DLR platforms.
Bunhill 2 was developed with the intention of repeating the scheme across the capital, which would use waste heat from other tube lines to benefitting tens of thousands more Londoners.
Mayor of London offers his support
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, praised the project, saying it was “great to see this highly innovative project up and running”.
He added: “The target of being carbon-neutral by 2030 will require innovative projects like Bunhill to help deliver it.”
Islington Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Transport, Rowena Champion, also said the scheme was a big step towards the borough’s 2030 carbon net zero target. “This pioneering project is cutting carbon emissions in a way that reduces people’s energy bills, helping us to help them at a time when the cost of living is soaring.
“It helps to reduce fuel poverty and make Islington a fairer place, while offering our communities a sustainable, cheaper and greener future,” she added.
Andy Lord, London Underground’s Managing Director, said: “Capturing waste heat from Tube tunnels and using it to supply heating and hot water to thousands of local homes hasn’t been done anywhere in the world before.
“Heat from the London underground has the potential to be a significant low-carbon energy source and we are carrying out further research, as part of our energy and carbon strategy, to identify opportunities for similar projects across the Tube network.”
The news comes as Islington Council attempted to take down several trees, despite complaints of there being a climate emergency.
