No One Will be Left Behind on the Road to Net Zero: Low Carbon Heat by Design
20 October 2022
Low Carbon Heat by Design
It’s acknowledged that the Government’s legally binding targets under the Climate Change Act, to reach net zero emissions by 2050, cannot be achieved without the decarbonisation of heating in the UK housing stock.
Whilst recognizing that effecting a market transformation of this magnitude and complexity will take time and coordination between Government, industry, and the public, it is noticeable that in comparison with other European nations with similar objectives, the UK appears to be one of the slowest to adopt low carbon heating technologies.
This paper examines some of the causes behind the slow take-up of these technologies in the UK and challenges the UK Government to demonstrate its commitment to decarbonisation of heat by looking beyond the short-term, and to construct a cohesive long-term policy framework to fast-track the take up of low carbon heat, to keep pace with international markets and tackle the energy crisis.
The Government is also challenged on its contention that it takes a “technology neutral” approach to low carbon heating, because current policy is focused on heat pumps, heat networks and hydrogen, and largely ignores proven existing low carbon heat technologies, some of which have flexibility benefits that would obviate the need for investment in additional power generation in the future
In particular, electric resistance heating, in all its forms, is proven, reliable, and an ideal low-carbon solution for many modern, compact flats and apartments, and the additional flexibility benefits of storage heaters have hitherto been largely ignored. With an established market of 3.5 million storage heaters in domestic premises in the UK, their combined energy storage capacity is 56GWh.
This is 6 times greater than the 9.1 GWh energy storage capacity of Dinorwig, the UK’s largest pumped storage hydro-electric power station, and the largest energy storage asset on the UK network.
It is already feasible to upgrade these storage heaters with the latest demand-side management technology to become connected smart thermal batteries thereby enabling them to provide flexibility to transmission and network system operators, as well as low-carbon, low-cost heat for the householder.
The UK Government has shown clear intentions that it wants to be a world leader on the net zero stage and has made a commitment that “no one will be left behind” as we make this journey. However, the reality is that path dependency and a lack of strong political leadership has caused the UK to fall behind other countries on the low carbon transition.
But this needn’t remain the case. With decisive policy which supports all technologies that can help on the net zero transition, including those which help reduce wind power curtailment and address hard-to-treat homes, the UK can decarbonise heat and ensure that no one is left behind in homes which are thermally uncomfortable or cost prohibitive to run.
