SUSTAINABLE FUEL
www.heatingandventilating.net
Renewable liquid fuels could be key
OFTEC Chief executive Paul Rose
“Up until now, decarbonisation progress has mainly been made through large scale projects that have little impact on everyday lives. But to deliver the rapid change required to meet the now accelerated net zero timeline, the focus must shift and many areas of daily life will be affected, including the way we heat our homes. Successfully achieving the transition to low carbon heat means harnessing consumer support on an unprecedented scale. However, green heating schemes such as the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and failed Green Homes Grant initiative have so far fallen well short of supporting these aspirations.
Crucial lessons need to be learned and UK households, including the 1.5 million that rely on heating oil, urgently need credible solutions to help them make the switch in a fair, affordable way. Renewable liquid fuels must form part of this.
Why renewable liquid fuels?
Government is prioritising off-gas grid homes for conversion to low carbon heating during the 2020s and sees heat pumps and, in limited cases, biomass boilers, as the best solutions to achieve this. OFTEC and its industry partners fully support government’s decarbonisation ambitions but remain concerned that many households living in the hardest to treat oil-heated properties will not be able to afford the high costs associated with this approach without significantly higher levels of funding. This is unlikely to be forthcoming.
Heat pumps are extremely efficient and work well in homes with good insulation. However, around 65% of oil-heated homes (765,000) in Great Britain currently fall into the lowest EPC bands E-G. These properties would have to undergo very expensive, disruptive retrofits to bring them up to an acceptable standard for effective heat pump use (EPC band C). BEIS’ own figures suggest the costs involved in this process would average between £12,000 and almost £19,000 per home depending on the EPC banding. This is in addition to the cost of installing an air source heat pump which averages around £10,900.
OFTEC believes off-grid households need a choice of affordable low carbon heating solutions
than the carbon savings that could be achieved by switching these properties to heat pumps or biomass boilers in the short to medium term, and the cost for each tonne of carbon saved is significantly lower.
Technology neutral approach
Independent research of more than 1,000 rural homeowners indicates the majority would be unwilling or unable to fund this level of improvement, even with the support of a £4,000 Clean Heat Grant – the proposed scheme to follow the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive when it ends in March 2022.
An HVO burner
A more flexible policy approach is urgently needed which must include support for renewable liquid fuels to help overcome the complex challenge of decarbonising thousands of energy inefficient oil heated homes.
HVO trials underway
OFTEC and fellow trade association the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association (UKIFDA) are already trialing a new renewable liquid fuel alternative to heating oil in homes across the UK. The sustainably certified, fossil free fuel called HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) is already widely available in the UK as a transport fuel. Initial trial results conclusively show it offers an almost drop-in replacement for heating oil with only minor modifications to the existing system required. An HVO solution would minimise the two main barriers to heat decarbonisation that currently exist – capital cost and disruption. Homeowners wouldn’t need to spend thousands on installing a completely new heating system or fund the additional costly energy efficiency improvements needed to be make many oil- heated properties suitable for heat pump use. Crucially, an HVO solution can reduce emissions from oil heated homes by almost 90%. This is greater
Consumer choice and fairness must lie at the heart of future domestic heat policy if we are to be successful. UK households, especially those off-grid, need access to a range of simple to implement, affordable low carbon heating options that work for a variety of property types and budgets. This means government must adopt a truly ‘technology neutral’ approach and extend the parameters of future schemes such as the Clean Homes Grant to embrace all low carbon heating solutions that can achieve the required carbon reduction targets. In all areas, decarbonisation policy must now be upscaled, heating businesses encouraged to invest and consumers incentivised to take action. And to successfully achieve this, government must collaborate with the heating industry which has already shown it is ready for the challenge.”
Mitchell & Webber director John Weedon with Zoe Milward, owner of the Cornish property which trialled HVO
CORNISH PROPERTY
PIONEERS HVO The first UK home to trial the use of HVO for heating was a property in Redruth, Cornwall, supplied by UKIFDA member, South West liquid fuels distributor Mitchell & Webber. Switching the bungalow from heating oil to the new fossil-free HVO supply simply involved making some straightforward changes to the boiler which cost around £500.
30 June 2021
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