A Year in Electric: Looking Back Over 2023

2023 has been a landmark year for renewables, alternative heating, and attitudes towards our carbon-free future. It’s not been without a few hiccups along the way.?

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The progress made over the past year, from intensifying the heat pump rollout, battling to keep net zero targets within reach, and fighting the tide of myths and disinformation that have been rife across the media is now ending on something between a high note and a sigh with the UN’s climate change conference.

Quick Out the Blocks

The year started off strong with the aptly titled ‘Energy Security Day’ the reskinned version of its original, slightly more creatively ‘Green Day’. The aim of this was to set out the government's revised ambition in order to succeed in its net zero goal by 2050.

There was more to it than meets the eye, however. ‘Green Day’ was more of a reaction to criticism than anything else - with the originally announced measures in 2022 deemed ‘not detailed enough’. 60 policies were promised in the update, including a much-needed shake-up in the levels of tax on electricity - which aims to see the UK having the cheapest electricity in Europe by 2035.

Despite a positive push in the opening few months, the language as the year progressed got increasingly darker with widely different rhetoric coming from both sides of the debate.?

On one hand, there was UN general secretary - Antonio Guterres, who announced it was time to switch away from the language of ‘global warming’ as we’ve entered the era of ‘global boiling’ and on the other, their was former environmental secretary Michael Gove claiming:?

"My own strong view is that we're asking too much too quickly... I think we should relax the pace."

This back and forth in regards to the speed of global and domestic decarbonising has been created on the slow take-up of heat pumps from the government's own Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The technology has been blighted since its inception by a lack of awareness and a dedicated misinformation scheme due to intense lobbying by the gas industry.

The Independent Climate Change Committee has said the government must ensure 3.3 million domestic heat pumps are fitted by 2030 in order to reach the legal target of net zero twenty years later.?

The biggest myth floated around about heat pumps was their ability to work in the older housing stock of the UK. A myth busted when the first studies into the effectiveness of heat pumps were finally released this year.?

However, because of these myths, market leaders, such as Fischer have adapted.?

The emergence of hybrid heat pumps, that continue to utilise existing heating, such as gas, if the temperature drops low enough, quell any worry of feeling a chill. These ‘transitional’ approaches help those who start to decarbonise, but still hold a? belief a heat pump will be sufficient solely on its own.?

A Period of Mourning?

The war of words being fought over the suitability of emerging technologies gave a chance for old contenders to enter the wings... and in the background, fossil fuels were waiting to strike.?

The UK brought to an end a 46-day coal-free period for Britain's grid when the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant was called into action due to high demand in March. A move which angered many environmental campaigners:?

“It is a sign of failure that the National Grid is turning to one of the most polluting forms of power generation to deal with a summer heatwave that we know has been made worse because of climate change.”

This ‘sign of failure’ kickstarted a period of mourning and hammered another nail in the coffin for those who still held on to the belief that maybe for once, the problem of climate change was going to be addressed.?

The final nails in the coffin for some came just a few months later.

It started with the issuing of hundreds of new oil and gas licenses for exploratory drilling in the North Sea. A move that was strongly criticised across the board from environmentalists to fellow politicians, as reckless, irresponsible, and severely damaging to the UK’s green credentials, both domestically and abroad.

Then it ended with Rishi Sunak crumbling under political pressure and succumbing to the anti-ULEZ crowd who helped provide an unlikely Tory victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election. The Prime Minister saw the votes in his eyes and rolled back on green pledges, delaying the ban on gas boilers in homes and pushing back the deadline for selling new petrol and diesel cars.??

A Glimmer of Hope

Expectations heading into the final months of the year were understandably low. The COP28 was facing allegations of being unfit for a climate conference and investigations were deepening into the conference’s president, Al Jaber because of his dual role as CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).?

Dubai was originally hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Paris Agreement, the most successful climate treaty achieved by the COP.?

Every nation pledged to constrain their emissions and limit global warming to 1.5C.?

Whilst it didn’t quite emulate the grandiose highs of Paris, the conference did, for the first time directly address fossil fuels and the need to ‘move away’ from their usage.?

However, certain phrases like ‘phase down’ were omitted from the final agreement, which gives a bittersweet taste on the outcome, even though it does still hold significance..?

Moving Through 2024?

After the COP28 the momentum from the talks continued. In late December 2023, ￡1.5bn was added by the government to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) Riding on the air of goodwill provided by the positivity the closing of the UN’s climate change conference brought.?

The momentum behind new renewable energy is expected to continue to build in the UK moving through the years and electricity demand is forecast to rise by about 50% by 2035.

The main concerns heading into the new year will be optimising the UK's electrical grid to cope with the rise in demand - The National grid currently suffers from the longest queue for connections in Europe, with over 200GW worth of electricity projects waiting to be connected.?

Perhaps in 2024, the talking stage will be over and the action will truly begin.?

Fischer Future Heat is ready.?