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Short abstract:

Informed by several UK case studies where industry is located in close proximity to non-industrial communities, our work explores heat sharing from both the industrial and community perspectives to understand the lack of integration in terms of policy uncertainties, interdependency and lock-in.

Long abstract:

Achieving Net Zero and transitioning to a greener economy are urgent issues for UK policymakers, industrial actors, and the public at large. While different industrial sectors will need to tailor decarbonisation and dematerialisation strategies to their unique circumstances, nearly all industrial activity generates excess heat through normal operations. Significant work exists outlining the size and scope of this thermal resource, often focused on technical approaches and engineering solutions for its capture and reuse within the industrial estate. However, there are also opportunities to utilise excess heat “beyond the factory fence”, such as local heat networks, providing heat for local communities. While such opportunities have often been employed across Continental Europe, they are uncommon in the UK.

Informed by several case studies where industry is located in close proximity to non-industrial communities, our work explores heat sharing from both the industrial and community perspectives. Our starting point was the social, economic, and policy barriers preventing UK industrial actors from sharing their excess heat with surrounding communities, or indeed viewing this thermal energy as a potential resource that could be better valorised ‘outside the factory fence.’ This revealed a paucity of industrial-community integration on this issue, which is noteworthy given the demands on local governments to decarbonise heat systems in their communities. We turned to the perspective of surrounding communities, local governments, and heat network operators to understand this lack of integration in terms of the risks of uncertain policy, interdependency and lock-in, and the implications these would have on community-industrial relations.