However, the survey also found that most UK manufacturers cannot say how much heat they use or how efficient their heating systems are -a critical blind spot that undermines both competitiveness and decarbonisation efforts.
Fewer than one in four respondents said they could state both their annual heating energy consumption and the size of their heating plant. Where figures were reported, heating systems were operating at an average utilisation of just 24%, indicating that many sites have oversized heating infrastructure that is inefficiently operating at a fraction of its capacity.
Manufacturers rely heavily on gas for heat, with an average of 67% of demand met by fossil fuels. More than half of respondents said their heating systems were over 20 years old, while only around a third had installed heat sub-metering.
Prof. Pearson, Group Sustainable Development Director at Star Refrigeration, said, “The survey confirms that there is huge potential for efficiency improvements that remains untapped simply because companies do not have the data they need to make informed decisions.”
“Data remains the missing link. Without a clear picture of heat use and capacity, businesses struggle to build credible investment cases or fully realise the potential of renewable heating technologies.”
The survey gathered responses from around 100 major manufacturing sites across multiple sectors, including food and drinks, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Together, these industries account for a significant share of UK manufacturing output and are among the most energy intensive parts of the economy.
They survey data reveals that even among established manufacturers engaged in energy and decarbonisation planning, basic data on heat use is often unavailable.
The findings point to a broader challenge for industrial decarbonisation. While heat accounts for a substantial share of energy use in manufacturing, it often receives less attention than electricity in corporate energy strategies and policy frameworks, potentially slowing investment and uptake of low carbon industrial heat pumps for process heat.
The survey suggests that technical barriers may be lower than commonly assumed. Many respondents reported hot water demands in the range of 50°C to 70°C, temperatures that can already be met by modern industrial heat pumps.
Nearly half said they stepped steam down to hot water for their processes, a practice that can indicate inefficiencies that could often be improved through heat recovery or hybrid systems, but doing so typically requires detailed data on heat flows and demand.
Pearson said that the results highlighted a gap between technological capability and operational understanding. “The UK has the engineering capability to deploy heat pumps and recovery systems at scale. But the first barrier is not technology. It is knowing where and how energy is used across business operations.”
Data visibility appeared to play a role in shaping interest in energy optimisation and investment in renewable heating technology. Among organisations with heat sub-metering in place, 80% said they were interested in energy optimisation measures, and all said they were interested in implementing heat recovery technologies.
Prof Pearson, said, “One of the newer areas of Star Refrigeration is Star Data Analytics. We’ve recently developed a LoRaWAN-based remote sensor system that feeds directly into our award-winning, AI-driven energy optimisation platform, Ethos.”
“This allows us to deploy sensors for flow, temperature, valve position and energy use quickly and with minimal site wiring, giving customers real-time visibility of their energy use through a bespoke dashboard. As Dr W. Edwards Deming said, ‘In God we trust. All others must bring data’.
“Ethos, combined with LoRaWAN, turns that data into a four-dimensional view of a client’s site so that performance and exact demand requirements are understood before solutions are selected. Too often in the industry, ‘heat pump’ is the answer before the problem is properly defined.”
The survey findings come amid growing pressure on UK industry to reduce carbon footprint in line with national Net Zero targets. Heat pumps and heat recovery technologies are increasingly seen as commercially viable alternatives to fossil fuels, but adoption remains uneven across sectors and scales of operation.