A water source heat pump will soon provide heat and power at several University of East London, U.K., facilities. The system to be installed in partnership with Siemens will replace existing gas boilers and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 258 tons. The water source for this sustainable system? The River Thames.

The submerged closed-loop system will be installed and deploy a network of pipes to extract natural heat from the river without detriment to the aquatic ecosystem by avoiding the removal of significant water volumes. An anti-freeze solution passing through the sealed pipes will absorb heat from the riverine system.

The scalability of the heat pump allows for future implementations across the campus and within the wider Royal Docks area, the only Enterprise Zone in London. Since forming this partnership in 2022, Siemens has already implemented a range of decarbonization technologies at the University of East London campus, including solar photovoltaic panels that generate 1.2 GWh/year of electricity, building management system and 27 electric vehicle charging points.

The water source heat pump will power the university’s Docklands Campus Library and Royal Docks Centre for Sustainability buildings.