The Future of UK Heating

Following a new study conducted by Uswitch (reported on in PHAM News) that provided some interesting insights into the efficiency of boilers in different types of homes based on their age and construction, which found that houses built in the last decade are less efficient compared to century-old homes, and homes built between 2003 and 2011 were the most efficient - it seemed a good opportunity to review the current options and future of UK home heating. ?

Around 16% of UK emissions come from households. Therefore the decarbonisation of our homes will play an important part in meeting the 2030 emissions target set out by the Fifth Carbon Budget.

The carbon footprint of an average UK home has been reduced by 4.7 tonnes of CO2 since 1990. A further reduction of 3.6 tonnes is needed by 2030, to help keep us on track.

There are a number of ways in which UK households could be modified, to help us reach the 2030 target for emissions, such as:

• One in 20 UK homes with a gas boiler could join a heat network. This would save two tonnes of CO2 per year.
• One in four homes currently using oil heating, and one in three homes using electric heating, could switch to a heat pump. This would reduce CO2 emissions by 3.2 tonnes and 0.8 tonnes per year, respectively.
• Low-carbon electricity generation could reduce emissions by 79%, thus saving 1.25 tonnes of CO2 per year for the average UK home.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released a Heat and Buildings Strategy in 2021, outlining a comprehensive plan for cutting emissions from UK buildings. This will cost ￡6.6 billion while saving people money on their bills and simultaneously reducing the country’s carbon footprint. Part of this strategy involves a nationwide ban on installing and using gas boilers from all new-build properties by 2025, and for all households by 2035. From these dates, all new heating systems must be fuelled either by heat pumps, hydrogen-ready boilers, or similarly low-carbon alternatives.

The UK boiler market is expected to continue at its normal rate, with no expected changes in sales volume. In recent years, the boiler industry has become a replacement market. In the coming years, people will begin to substitute gas boilers for heat pumps, in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint further and increase the efficiency of their domestic boiler systems.

According to the latest UK boiler stats, the UK Government has set a target of around 600,000 new heat pumps to be installed in UK households by 2028 as part of their Heat and Buildings Strategy 2021. There are associated installation challenges faced by this, with costs of up to ￡10,000, compared to ￡2,500 for the average gas combi boiler. However, these estimates don’t take into account the additional costs of extra insulation (such as draft-proofing disused vents) for homes in EPC Band E or below.

The planned introduction of a Future Homes Standard in 2025 will require new homes to have 75% less CO2 than at present. Part of this will involve preventing the installation of natural gas boiler systems in new-build properties. By 2035, the proposal is also to phase out the sale of natural gas and oil boilers completely.

With 23 million homes in the UK having a gas boiler, sooner or later, they will need replacing. The UK government is aiming for a low-carbon production capacity of 5GW by 2030, with hydrogen being cited as a possible alternative to traditional gas boilers.

However, a decision is yet to be reached as to whether hydrogen boilers can be installed in homes from 2026.

Alternatives for gas and oil central heating

* For Businesses

The world’s largest untapped energy source is excess heat.

Every time an engine runs, it generates heat. Anyone who has felt the warmth behind their fridge can confirm this. The same is true on a larger scale in supermarkets. Keeping food fresh in cooling displays and freezers generates significant amounts of excess heat. A similar process goes for the cooling of the thousands of data centers that are popping up around the world. This excess heat is currently released into the air without any effort to reuse it.

In the EU alone, excess heat amounts to 2,860 TWh per year, corresponding to the EU’s total energy demand for heat and hot water in residential and service sector buildings. Much of this excess heat could instead be captured and reused.

Heat recovery technologies exist that can use excess heat from industries, wastewater facilities, data centers, supermarkets, metro stations and commercial buildings. Excess heat can be reused to supply a factory with heat and warm water or exported to neighbouring homes and industries through a district energy system.

Reusing excess heat will lower energy costs for consumers and businesses, making our economies and energy system more resilient and accelerate the green transition.

A global push for higher efficiency can help avoid almost 30 million barrels of oil per day (that corresponds to triple Russia’s average production in 2021) and 650 bcm of natural gas per year – around four times what the EU imported from Russia in 2021.

The greenest energy, the safest energy and the cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use : Danfoss have recently published an excellent paper on this : https://bit.ly/3GBkSJ0

* For Homes

One of the best ways to make your home more energy efficient is to start creating your own energy!. When installing renewable energy technologies, it’s important to take a whole house approach and think about all the elements needed to make an energy efficient property.

Installing proper insulation will help your renewable energy technology perform better and save you more money in the long run. The type of technology you install should be what’s best for your property and lifestyle too, in order for you to see the best results. Solar panel and heat pump technologies are now more advanced than ever, with storage mechanisms and energy diversion technologies available too. All these technologies interoperate and combine well with each other. Solar PV for example could help power a heat pump, or several of these systems could feed into a thermal store instead of sending surplus electricity to the grid. Alternatively too, a PV diverter switch can power the immersion heater in your hot water tank, storing hot water for you to use later - increase your savings and energy efficiency even more.

So the future of heating technology is already here !

Summary

Overall Interest is rising for low-carbon technology of all scales – from domestic air source heat pumps, all the way up to room-sized systems that can heat and cool an office building and bigger still to city-wide district heating schemes.

We’re a business for everyone. Regardless of the type of system or and application - domestic, commercial, or industrial, heating or cooling. However whether a system is led via a gas boiler, air source heat pump or solar panels - unless the system is set up properly, you can never extract the maximum potential efficiency from the heat source.

Domestic or Commercial energy is individual to a household or business and no matter what your circumstances, we can help you make changes. With a combined 75 years of trading history, you are in safe hands and we’re able to look ahead to help plan for the future while also supporting you in your current situation.

Contact Blueflame today for an informed meeting with one of our engineering managers.