Dr T. G. N. ‘Graeme’ Haldane — Scottish Heat Pump Pioneer

Abstract

Dr T. G. N. ‘Graeme’ Haldane was a visionary proponent of a national, rational electricity strategy. He was a pioneer of the National Grid and displayed a keen, early interest in nuclear power and renewable energy sources. It appears that he was the first engineer in Britain (and, possibly, internationally) to construct, monitor and document the performance of a heat pump system for space heating. He built his experimental heat pump system at the Foswell Estate, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland. The environmental heat source that he used was the estate’s water supply, which is likely to have been derived from groundwater springs in the estate grounds. In this case, Haldane’s heat pump can be described as Britain’s earliest ground-source heat pump.

Keywords:

• ground source
• heat pump
• electricity
• Scotland
• renewable energy

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Dr T. G. N. Haldane’s son, Mr Richard W. Haldane, MBE, of Cloan, and his nephew, Mr John Patrick Alexander Haldane, of Foswell, in providing further biographical details and in clarifying the details of the Foswell heat pump.

The author has unsuccessfully attempted to trace any copyright status of the portrait in Figure 3. Any party claiming copyright in the photograph is encouraged to contact the author or editor in order that the correct attribution can be made.

Notes

1. D. Banks, An Introduction to Thermogeology — Ground Source Heating and Cooling, 2nd edn (Chichester: Wiley, 2012), 544 pp.

2. J. A. Sumner, ‘The Norwich Heat Pump’, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 158.1 (1948), 22–29, with discussion pp. 39–51, doi: 10.1243/PIME_PROC_1948_158_011_02; C. Beatson, ‘Customers will Queue for the Heat Pump if it Gains Acceptance’, The Engineer, 25 April 1974, pp. 33–34.

3. T. G. N. Haldane, ‘The Heat Pump — An Economic Method of Producing Low-Grade Heat from Electricity’, Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 68.402 (1930), 666–75, doi: 10.1049/jiee-1.1930.0066.

4. F. H. Faust, ‘New Electric Heating Systems’, in New Methods of Heating Buildings, Building Research Institute, Publication 760 (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, 1960), 85–105.

5. Beatson.

6. J. S. Haldane, The Sciences and Philosophy: Gifford Lectures, University of Glasgow 1927 and 1928 (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1929), 334 pp.

7. T. G. N. Haldane, ‘Recollections and Reflections’, manuscript (dated 1973). Papers of Thomas Graeme Nelson Haldane (Reference GBR/0014/TGNH), Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, accession number TGNH2/1.

8. T. G. N. Haldane, The Socialization of the Electric Supply Industry (London: Victor Gollancz for the New Fabian Research Bureau, 1934), 104 pp.

9. C. A. Parsons, ‘President’s Address’, in Section G — Engineering; Report of the 74th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, August 1904, Cambridge (London: John Murray, 1905), pp. 667–76; C. A. Parsons, ‘President’s Address’, in Report of the 87th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 9th–13th Sept. 1919, Bournemouth (London: John Murray, 1920), pp. 1–23.

10. T. G. N. Haldane, B. Wood and H. C. H. Armstead, ‘Development of Geothermal Power Generation’, Transactions of the. 1958 World Power Conference, 4, Section C, Paper 21C/1 (1958), 1963–74.

11. L. Chew, ‘Mechanical Refrigeration as Applied to the Brewing Industry’, Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 18.4 (1912), 274–312.

12. Haldane, ‘Recollections and Reflections’.

13. T. G. N. Haldane, Diary of visit to Russia, touring power stations (dated 1932). Papers of Thomas Graeme Nelson Haldane (Reference GBR/0014/TGNH), Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, accession number TGNH3/1.

14. ‘Generation of Electricity from Wind Power’, Nature, 161 (1948), 162,doi:10.1038/161162b0; T. G. N. Haldane and E. W. Golding, ‘Recent Developments in Large-Scale Wind-Power Generation in Great Britain’, Transactions of the 4th World Power Conference, Lund, Sweden, 4 (London: Humphries, 1952), 2501–10; T. G. N. Haldane, ‘Geothermal Energy — the Earth as a Power Station Boiler’, New Scientist, 3.76 (1958), 12–14; J. G. Brown, T. G. N. Haldane and P. L. Blackstone, Hydroelectric Engineering Practice (London: Blackie & Son, 1970).

15. T. G. N. Haldane, ‘Inaugural Address 7 October 1948 — Means and Ends’, Proceedings of Institution of Electrical Engineers (Part 1 General), 96.97 (1949), 1–8, doi: 10.1049/pi-1.1949.0001; T. G. N. Haldane, ‘Inaugural Address — Means and Ends’, Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1949.1 (1949), 24, doi: 10.1049/jiee-2.1949.0004.

16. T. G. N. Haldane and H. C. H. Armstead, The Geothermal Power Development at Wairakei, New Zealand (London: Institutions of Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers and Electrical Engineers, 1962), 47 pp.

17. Haldane, Inaugural Address (15); speech by T. G. N. Haldane on his opening the new Haldane Library at Imperial College, Felix (The Newspaper of the Imperial College Union), 134 (1959), 2; T. G. N. Haldane, Correspondence and reflections on ‘Unity and Tolerance’ (1962–63), Papers of Thomas Graeme Nelson Haldane, Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, accession number TGNH7/2.

18. Haldane, ‘Recollections and Reflections’.

19. Ibid.

20. Haldane, ‘Heat Pump’.

21. John Patrick Alexander Haldane, personal communication to the author, 2 November 2013.

22. Ibid.

23. Richard W. Haldane MBE, personal communication to the author, 22 November 2013.

24. Haldane, ‘Recollections and Reflections’.