WHAT DOES A LOW-CARBON FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
David Hilton assesses the long-term future of low-carbon heating, and the importance of addressing and preparing for the transition period
The government presented its 10 Point Plan for reducing carbon emissions in the future, in late 2020. Following this, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy presented a white paper to parliament, titled ‘Powering our Net Zero Future’, which outlines the strategy required to meet the 10 Point Plan.the report was welcomed by the industry as it acknowledges the recommendations they made during the consultation period.
Included in this paper is the acknowledgment that a date will soon be set for hydrogen-ready boilers to be installed into homes, and biomethane and hydrogen will be developed for injection into many parts of the existing gas grid. Heat pumps have taken their place as the government’s flavour of choice for decarbonising our homes, especially for new builds, but there will also be a mix of other fuels. The balance of these solutions needs to be further defined in my opinion, and more must be done to address the transition period.
TRANSITION PERIOD
Off-mains homes pose one particular challenge. Biokerosene and bio-oil need to be included in existing oil-based heating systems, as the task of replacing all of the oil and LPG heating systems with heat pumps could simply be too complex and not feasible for many properties.
Across the existing housing stock there is also a strong argument for hybrid heating systems where traditional heating technologies such as gas, oil or LPG boilers are designed to work in conjunction with a heat pump. The heat duty would need to be carefully designed to be covered by the most efficient technology as the prevailing weather conditions and heat loads change.
Introducing hydrogen boilers is also going to lead to a transition period because the hydrogen content in the gas grid will gradually increase, therefore periodic adjustment of the boilers to accommodate the changing fuel mix will need to be legislated, perhaps in a similar way to how landlords need an annual inspection of gas appliances.
It is great that there is now a focus on a number of solutions that seems to be backed for the long-term, but consumers will need confidence that they are investing in long-term solutions. Moreover, the industry will need confidence that the technologies are here to stay so that trades can be upskilled to support the emerging technologies, and not end up investing a lot of time and money into training and equipment only for the focus to change at the drop of a hat.
Many recent government initiatives have not had the success that they promised, so right now it’s good to see that manufacturers as well as industry bodies have got behind many aspects of the 10 Point Plan with product development, field trials and deployment regulations and guidance so that consumer and industry confidence can be built.