Biaco in the Sustainable Energy Landscape: A Comparative Analysis

The UK housing market is driven by gas. In 2019, 23% of total UK CO2 emissions were from buildings, of which 17% were from homes and 4% from social housing. In addition, there is also a significant issue of fuel poverty in the UK with 3.2 million (13%) households in fuel poverty. This paper looks at the problem from the perspective of the Biaco plasma boiler. The Biaco system, is a vessel which turns water into a plasma under specific pressure conditions through the input of an electrical charge and achieves an all-year-round COP of 3.7, which can be increased to 5.1 through a proven development pathway. This heat is captured as steam and is seamlessly integrated into traditional radiator systems: hence the boiler can be introduced without requiring additional infrastructure. The study looks at the 15year comparative performance of the Biaco system against the viable alternatives gas boilers, air and ground source heat pumps and electrical boilers. The comparison looks at the Opex and Capex requirements of all systems and discounts on those costs over the forecast period. The core conclusions are that the Biaco system compares against the known alternative in the following ways. The analysis shows economic and environmental benefits against all competing systems. The analysis indicates that the Biaco system reduces emissions by 96% compared to a gas boiler and is £900 cheaper a year than a heat pump over a fifteen-year period. Over the medium term, as more energy is produced through renewables and electricity prices are decoupled from gas then the plasma boiler will become increasingly competitive. The paper argues that the system will deliver benefits to housing providers, tenants’ and government.