Kensa heat pump preserved at Science Museum
14th May 2024
UK: Kensa’s pioneering Shoebox ground-source heat pump has been included in a new energy transition gallery within the Science Museum in London.
The British-made heat pump joins over seven million historic and significant items collected and documented by the Science Museum Group since 1857.
Since its launch in 2012, Kensa has produced over 7,500 Shoebox heat pumps. The first Kensa Shoebox, connected to a shared ground loop, was installed in Croft House, Holsworthy, in 2014 for Westward Housing.
The Shoebox has also been installed into many social housing retrofit projects, including 273 high-rise flats in Thurrock, over 400 flats in Enfield and over 1,000 properties across the North of England.
In all, Kensa claims that the Shoebox now accounts for around one-third of all UK ground-source heat pump installations.
In addition to being immortalised in their collection, the compact heat pump will be on display to the public as part of the Science Museum’s new Adani Green Energy Gallery, where it will rub shoulders with other trailblazing energy transition products, such as the historic Bersey electric taxi cab and one of the world’s first rechargeable batteries.
“Seeing our ‘little white box’ featured in this exhibition and immortalised in the Science Museum collection as a green heating pioneer is a remarkable achievement, but one this incredible product fully deserves,” commented Kensa Heat Pumps CEO Tamsin Lishman.
“This gallery shares contemporary stories of individuals, organisations and communities all imagining the future of low carbon energy, but it also spotlights some of the earliest ideas and technologies created by the imaginations of previous generations,” explained the Science Museum curator, Oliver Carpenter. “By taking a long view of the energy revolution and showcasing impressive technologies of the past, alongside today’s low carbon options, we hope to inspire visitors to imagine a low carbon energy future.”
