Tom Ackers

@tomackers.bsky.social

59 Followers 196 Following

https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/decarbonising-the-built-environment/ Writing on the political economy of the built environment, social-ecological transition. Postdoc, Uniarts Helsinki

Picture of the cover of "Making Homes and Energy Transition in Nigeria" by Tom Ackers. Cover text over a monotone green image of a mixed grassy/industrial lanscape in Nigeria, featuring power lines in the foreground, with assorted pilons and infrastructure behind.
Cover of "Remaking Home Heating in the UK" by Tom Ackers, published by People and Nature. The cover is in two-tone pink and yellow, and shows a photo of the front of a building mid-way through the application of external cladding.
Text says: What to do For most homes, if the owner wants efficient and electrified heating, cooling and hot water production, and doesn't want to move to a purely air-blown heating system, two heat pumps will be needed. One set-up could include a hot water heat pump alongside an air-to-air heat pump for heating and cooling. Another set-up might be an air-to-water heat pump which provides hot water and heating using the existing pipework and radiator system with an additional air-to-air heat pump simply to provide cooling. For reasons of cost and simplicity, currently it seems likely that this would be the go-to option for most homes which already have wet central heating. However, for small homes or flats that don't already have central heating, it might be that an air-blown system for both heating and cooling makes most sense alongside a separate system for hot water, like solar thermal, as shown in this Cornish case study. 12 Smart hot water storage which utilises off-peak electricity may be another technology which would complement air-to-air heat pumps. Perhaps new homes will be built with all-in-one air-blown systems with associated hot water production.
Image of the front cover of a study for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, entitled “Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction”, written by Tom Ackers, Conrad Kunze, Paulina Orozco, Matthias Schmelzer and Nils Urbanus. The cover shows a black-and-white photo of piles of packages of cement powder, superimposed against a green, yellow and blue colour-field background.