WATER HEATING
www.heatingandventilating.net
Does the industry favour electric heating?
As the UK gathers greater momentum in its transition to a Net Zero economy, many consumers and construction professionals are starting to look to low-carbon heating. Alistair Bell, managing director at ThermoSphere, sheds light on this demand and how electric water heating will help
T
he cost-of-living crisis and climate change dominate our news cycle as energy prices soar and the shift to low-carbon sources
becomes increasingly urgent. The two problems aren’t unrelated, and electric heating is a potential solution that is worth looking at. Twenty percent of total UK carbon emissions
comes from buildings alone, heating accounts for most of that. Electric heating and water heating can help address this. To get an idea of how low-carbon alternative heating solutions are viewed in the construction industry, Thermosphere carried out a recent survey.
The demand is out there
Electric water heating is low carbon. Consumers can pair it with renewable energy tariff s and heat their homes without directly using fossil fuels. And, as the generation mix of electricity moves towards more renewables like wind and solar, even standard tariff s will be much greener. In fact, according to Bloomberg’s Power Transitions Trends report, since 2017 most of the newly added generation comes from wind and solar, while last year they made up 75% of new capacity globally. Consumers aren’t fully aware of this. The exact details of ‘the generation mix’ and renewable tariff s aren’t yet fully embedded in the public’s consciousness. But consumers are certainly demanding low-carbon heating. Our survey revealed that many in the construction industry are noticing an increase in consumer interest toward low-carbon heating and water heating. And 62% feel that they
30 November 2022
already have access to the low-carbon solutions that would satisfy this demand. It’s time to start seriously off ering low-carbon
water heating to consumers. Education and awareness are barriers to large scale adoption, but the benefi ts are clearly there.
Time and (red) tape
It’s not just consumers who’ll benefi t from low- carbon electric water heating. Any team responsible for new buildings will have to meet local authority Net Zero and carbon emissions targets. The UK is aiming to achieve Net Zero by 2050, and that means that half of the housing stock needs to be low carbon by 2035. Local authorities are partially responsible for guaranteeing that transition and they can, and will, grant planning permission based on carbon emissions targets. Low-carbon electric water heating can more readily meet those targets, at a much lower installation cost than hydrogen boilers or heat pumps.
Our survey of construction professionals revealed that 69% of respondents believe there’s a lack of workforce expertise for low-carbon heating methods, like heat pumps or hydrogen boilers. And 69% also believe that this will require fi nancial investment in their businesses. Low-carbon electric water heating can alleviate this problem. Existing teams of electricians and plumbers can install low-carbon electric boilers. No new training is required because the technologies are familiar ones. This can save on labour, money and time, and is one of the reasons the construction industry is looking to these alternatives.
Government help Some of the demand that we’re seeing is also accompanied by frustration. Other water heating methods benefi t from government ‘push’ and subsidies. For instance, there’s the Boiler Upgrade scheme to help consumers replace their old gas boiler. But this is limited to air source heat pumps, biomass boilers, or ground source heat pumps. Low-carbon electric heating doesn’t feature. Many in the construction industry believe that to meet the demand, there should be a similar scheme for low-carbon electric heating. Some 58% of people we surveyed think that direct electric heating coupled with a renewable energy tariff should benefi t from the same funding as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. So, it’s reasonable to assume they’d have a similar attitude toward water heating, especially since the portion of UK homes suitable for electric water heating is much larger. This doesn’t mean the government should fully
cover the transition costs to low-carbon electric water heating. It’s unlikely they could; consumer purchasing is essential to the whole process. But government schemes can boost consumer confi dence, which should lead to wider adoption. As the cost of installing an electric boiler is lower than hydrogen or heat pumps, the size of the subsidies, as a portion of the costs, could be much smaller.
Whether government help comes or not, we
know for sure that consumers and construction teams are looking to low-carbon electric water heating. It meets their needs, so we should be keen to deliver it to them.
DOWNLOAD THE HVR APP NOW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
