Carluccio's cuts energy bills with air-to-water heat pump

When restaurant chain Carluccio's wanted to reduce its energy bills as well as its carbon footprint, it chose the Panasonic Aquarea air-to-water heat pump system to provide a sustainable solution.

The brief was to install a system that would provide the desired volume of hot water at the correct temperature, while at the same time reducing energy costs.

The new site in the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield was chosen as the ideal location for the installation of an air-to-water heat pump system.

Supplier FWP Air Conditioning installed a 12kW Aquarea T-CAP mono bloc unit, which allows for heat from the air in the kitchen roof space to be transferred through a condensing unit. The system has a high coefficient of performance (COP): for every kWh of electricity the system uses, it provides 4kWh of energy. This makes the Aquarea far more cost-effective than a conventional heating system.

The Panasonic Aquarea air source heat pump converts the heat in air into energy. The conversion process is made possible by advanced inverter-driven technology that is similar to a domestic refrigerator.

Commenting on the savings achieved, Tony Evanson from Oceanair said: "When Carluccio's compared the Sheffield site with one of its existing restaurants of a similar size, the energy savings were considerable. The cost to heat the water at its Leeds restaurant was £3,782, while at the Meadowhall site the comparable cost was just £951. These sizable savings mean the site will have recouped costs in about two years and achieved a COP of about 3.91."

Alison Stanton, development director from Carluccio's, said: "We strive for sustainability wherever possible right across our business and were keen to trial air-to-water heat pumps at our new Sheffield restaurant. The results of the trial show us that we can achieve significant savings on our energy costs as well as reducing our carbon footprint. We hope to now install Aquarea units at all of our new developments."