End of gas boilers?
Climate chiefs call for a ban in new homes by 2025
GAS boilers should no longer be fitted in new homes by 2025, Government climate advisers said yesterday.
If the UK is to reduce its CO2 output to ‘net zero’, a total end to the installation of new fossil-fuelled boilers in any home should be brought in by 2035, a report warned.
It said a failure to cut greenhouse gases will lead to ‘catastrophic climate change’ at a time when ‘the need to increase the UK’s preparedness for future shocks has never been clearer’.
For the first time, the Committee on Climate Change said it was time to get rid of petrol powered motorbikes, to be replaced by electric alternatives. Bringing in electric motorbikes would spell an end to the ear-splitting rasp of traditional two-wheelers, part of their charm to enthusiasts, although lovers of peace and quiet are likely to welcome the move.
The measures are listed in the committee’s report Reducing Emissions: A Progress Report to Parliament 2020. It said rebuilding the economy after the shock of coronavirus while cutting emissions to net zero by 2050 was ‘absolutely necessary and entirely possible’.
Investment in new technologies will help Britain recover from the economic shock of Covid-19, it said. ‘This is a moment to improve the effectiveness of national planning for the threats from climate change that are already inevitable, as well as the uncharted but potentially catastrophic change if higher levels of warming occur.’
Other recommendations include increasing the amount of green space in towns and cities, with a national target to increase the area covered by parks. The Government is legally obliged to consider the recommendations, but does not have to make them law.
Gas boilers should be replaced by alternatives such as heat pumps, the report said.
While the technology is proven, with some 37million heat pumps in operation in Europe, take-up has been low in Britain so far.
At present, just 2 per cent of the 29million boilers in UK homes are replaced by heat pumps each year. A possible barrier may be the price – around £5,000-£8,000 for a heat pump which draws heat from the air, and £15,000-£18,000 for one that uses heat from the ground – although there are some Government subsidies available.
Later this year the Government will release its buildings and heat strategy. The CCC said it wanted to see measures that would transform low-carbon heating from a ‘niche market’ to ‘the dominant form of new heating installation by the early 2030s’.
Public awareness of the impact of gas boilers is limited the report said, with 48 per cent of people
‘Absolutely necessary’
unaware that they produce CO2. The report also said Britain’s recycling rate needs to rise to 70 per cent a year by 2030 and landfill should no longer be used for any biodegradable waste – such as food or garden waste.
The Government said it would respond formally to the recommendations in October.
A spokesman said: ‘We were the first major economy to commit to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and want to ensure that the UK has the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth.’