HEATING, VENTILATION & AIR CONDITIONING


THE UK HAS AN AMBITIOUS ST HEATING WILL BE VIT


The UK must decarbonise heating and hot water production in all buildings in order to meet the goal of Net Zero by 2050 and, to get there, must shift away from relying on fossil fuels in all buildings. This means embracing low-carbon technologies, particularly those that efficiently use the UK’s


growing supply of renewably-generated electricity. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all on the same journey, though each nation is taking slightly different approaches. With various


government proposals across the UK to make Net Zero a reality, it’s important to understand that the strategies being implemented can encourage a change in our heating habits in both new and existing buildings. Harvey Loyal, market and product intelligence specialist at Mitsubishi Electric, comments


n 2019, the UK government became the first major economy in the world to set an objective of achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – and to enshrine that goal in law. Getting to this goal by 2050 requires changes to be made across the UK economy, from transport to agriculture to manufacturing, and one of the essential aspects is decarbonising our buildings. There are around 30 million buildings in the


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UK which are responsible for 30% of national emissions, and 79% of building emissions come from heating. In October 2021, the UK Heat and Buildings Strategy was published to outline how the country might tackle this challenge, and it highlights several crucial points about the future of heat in UK buildings. These include moving


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away from burning fossil fuels, making buildings more efficient through improvements like insulation, and embracing heat pumps and heat networks for heat and hot water.


STRATEGIES ACROSS THE UK While the whole of the UK is on the same path to achieving Net Zero, and all countries recognise decarbonising heating as a major step to success, there are different policies and strategies being considered and applied in each area – depending on the current energy landscape. In England, one of the biggest challenges to


decarbonisation is persuading householders to switch from gas to alternatives like heat pumps. 88% of the total homes in England rely on gas


ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS - Autumn 2023


for heating and hot water, so moving to heat pumps is a big change. The UK government has set aside £12 billion


through the Help to Heat programme to encourage this move, and this includes the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which provides grants to property owners to install low-carbon heating systems. For commercial buildings, the future of heating is likely to be further influenced by the Future Building Standard, which the government intends to introduce in 2025. Scotland aims to install zero-emissions heating systems in over a million homes by 2030, and another 50,000 non-domestic buildings will convert to zero-emissions heating systems. The Scottish Parliament has also committed “at least


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