News analysis with BESA
Low carbon push would deliver social and economic wins
The ambitious zero carbon targets recommended by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) are “eminently achievable” and could spark much needed economic growth and social benefits, according to the chief executive of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA)
D
avid Frise called for adoption of the cross- party parliamentary committee’s key proposals including making all new buildings
net zero carbon within a decade and widespread adoption of low carbon heating solutions. He also made a direct link between the CCC recommendations and the measures proposed for “improving the compliance culture” across construction by Dame Judith Hackitt in her post- Grenfell review of building regulations and safety. The CCC said that a 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions should be legislated “as soon as possible” adding that it could be achieved at the same cost as the measures contained in the Climate Change Act i.e. 1-2% of GDP. However, Energy Secretary Greg Clark has yet to commit the government to adopting the advice despite pledging to “ensure the UK continues to be a world leader in tackling climate change”. The CCC called for major improvements to the insulation and energy efficiency of existing buildings as well as a comprehensive move away from fossil fuel-based heating. It estimates that the transition to green heating systems would cost about £15bn a year up to 2050 and involve widespread adoption of heat pumps in place of conventional boiler driven central heating and accelerating the use of district heating.
Vanguard
“This is a huge moment for our industry,” said Mr Frise. “All of these things are achievable and the building engineering sector is in the vanguard of zero carbon action. Additional policy levers will allow us to go further and faster, but we are already delivering low carbon heating solutions; energy efficiency and clean energy projects up and down the country.” He said it was also wrong to assume that implementing a zero carbon strategy would require people to make sacrifices or slow down economic growth. In fact, he asserted that the opposite was true. “Reducing your contribution to global warming does not mean you have to give up a modern lifestyle and start wearing a hair shirt,” said Mr Frise. “There has been a 44% drop in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 and, in that period, we have experienced a 75% increase in gross domestic product (GDP). Investment in low to zero carbon technologies and solutions have been, and
will continue to be, a significant contributor to our economic prosperity.” CCC vice chair Baroness Brown identified building
services engineers as being key to her committee’s low carbon vision. In a speech to an industry group at the House of Lords last month, she pointed out that none of the built environment improvements she was advocating were “rocket science” because the industry was already implementing most of them. She said she wanted to hear that the building engineering sector was busy and expanding because “then I will know that the right things are being done”. One of her key recommendations was for rapid
growth in low carbon heating and the committee has said that no new homes should be connected to the gas grid from 2025. “That is relatively easy to achieve – more difficult
will be converting our 24.5 million existing homes to low/zero carbon power,” said Mr Frise. However, he said that the switch away from coal
and towards renewables had radically altered the carbon content equation for electricity, which meant electric heating would play an increasingly important part. “Last month, the UK experienced its longest period since the industrial revolution without using coal to generate electricity and, by next year, 30% of our power will come from renewables. The carbon content of electricity is plummeting, which means electric heating can play a much more central role,” said Mr Frise. Electricity now emits around half of the carbon it used to – the average is just under 230g of carbon per kilowatt hour (kWh). This is now almost the same as gas and continues to fall. However, the running costs for electric heating remain much higher at around 14p per kWh compared with 4p for gas. As a result, the current Energy Performance
Certificate (EPC) system legislates heavily against electric heating. That would need to change to reflect the new carbon factors in electricity and may well do as part of the comprehensive review of Building Regulations due later this year.
Underpin
“In order to get the running costs down, improving insulation will be critical so that minimal space heating is required,” said Mr Frise. “A national
programme to retrofit insulation would be needed to underpin the CCC recommendations. This would also make it possible for us to adopt a less costly model of retrofitting homes with hybrid systems that have a domestic heat pump as a low carbon lynchpin. “Low temperature systems could meet much of the demand with the retrofitting of larger emitters and underfloor systems. The existing gas boiler could sit back and act as a back-up that is only used on the coldest days and when there is a spike in hot water demand.” Retrofitting a house with the right level of insulation and a suitable hybrid system would cost around £26,000 on average, according to the CCC. That is a considerable sum, but would result in a huge cut in running costs and minimise impact on the environment so should be a key consideration for government subsidy. The bigger challenge, however, will be providing the necessary electricity capacity, according to Mr Frise. “With the rapid expansion of electric transport, our
creaking grid is going to come under even greater pressure. If we try to emulate France where they are fitting 240,000 heat pumps a year – while suddenly plugging in tens of thousands of new electric cars – we will knock the grid over completely.” As a result, a massive energy infrastructure
investment is needed and Mr Frise believes nuclear will have to play a part. “The government has managed to alienate most of
our prospective foreign partners by taking its eye of the energy infrastructure ball during the agonising Brexit process. To meet longer-term goals, it must get that back on track fast,” he said. “Nuclear will have to be in the mix as the underpinning emissions free base load provider to meet increased demand for electricity, particularly on days when renewables cannot deliver.” However, he also pointed out that, as the UK had
not built any new nuclear capacity since the early 1990s and most of the expertise lay with overseas firms, the post-Brexit administration would have to reach out to more international partners. Mr Frise also believes that reducing demand is the “missing part of the energy equation” and had, so far, been poorly exploited. “More than 50% of our current energy capacity is
wasted,” said Mr Frise. “From the small and easily solved things like domestic appliances on continual
14 June 2019
www.heatingandventilating.net
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