Decarbonising heating should be a key priority right now, says Kensa

Ground source heat pump specialist, the Kensa Group, is arguing the case that Britain needs to accelerate its pace of investing in and legislating for a secure, sustainable and self-financing future built on renewable energy grids that are already available.

It has developed a plan for a “Greener Great Britain” that addresses three key challenges:

Create more green electricity: Around half of the UK’s electricity is currently made by burning gas, continuing a reliance on foreign supplies and ongoing expenditure. If the UK invested in increasing renewable electricity sources such as offshore wind and solar, we could be more self-sufficient. Decoupling our electricity from gas will allow renewable energy to be delivered more cheaply.

Balance the levies: The UK needs to address the disproportion between the levies currently causing electricity to be more expensive than gas. We need to balance this bias so it is properly proportioned against carbon emissions. This will allow the cost benefits of efficient low carbon electric technologies, such as heat pumps, to be fully realised.

Rapidly decarbonise heating: In tandem with the first two steps, Kensa is urging the government to focus efforts on rapidly decarbonising heating; switching to low carbon electric heating will provide a cheaper, greener and more reliable future.

Networked heat pumps provide a viable pathway renewables for the lowest cost, lowest carbon and lowest grid impact, says Kensa. By installing the underground infrastructure required for ground source heat pumps a whole street at a time, properties can be linked to heat networks, such as Heat the Streets in Stithians, Cornwall.

With the energy price cap increasing by 80% in October and predictions to rise even higher in January 2023, more households than ever are set to fall into fuel poverty. The UK is particularly vulnerable to volatile gas and electricity prices because failings in past policies mean the government sold off the UK’s energy storage capacity, leaving the country reliant on buying expensive energy from overseas.

Dr Matthew Trewhella, CEO of Kensa Group, said: “It is clear we need a future free from gas – free from price hikes, overseas market forces, air pollution, climate damage and energy instability. We must accept the need to decarbonise and take swift and significant action towards creating a greener Great Britain where clean energy is affordable and accessible.”

Heating is responsible for a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, 24 million homes in the UK are heated by gas boilers, and – as fossil fuel technology can continue to be installed in new build homes up until 2025 and existing homes until 2035 – this number is still rising. The UK has just over 27 years to remove gas boilers in line with becoming net zero by 2050 and so they need to stop being installed and start to be removed at the rate of 1 million per year.

Dr Trewhella continued: “The decarbonisation of heating should be a key priority and right now we need bigger-picture thinking. A Networked Heat Pump solution provides a tangible pathway for a widescale and rapid transition away from gas to renewable energy for all properties; commercial, residential homes and tower blocks, and it is available right now as demonstrated by our current project with Thurrock Council.”

“Networked heat pumps provide the lowest overall cost transition to a cheaper, greener and more reliable way to heat our homes. They provide the same levels of comfort and warmth, whilst safeguarding the future of our planet and protecting people against the very real threat of fuel poverty.”