NFPBS News
Low Carbon Heat Cannot Wait
September 2, 2016 - NFPBS News
The Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) has welcomed the Committee on Climate Change recommendations for a long term strategy on heat to meet UK decarbonisation commitments beyond 2020. The report calls on government to create a credible new strategy and a much stronger policy framework for buildings decarbonisation over the next three decades. Action is required now to reduce emissions and to prepare for future decisions. Deployment of low-carbon heat technologies cannot be left until the 2030s when low-regret opportunities such as heat networks, heat pumps and bio-methane injection already exist the report concludes. Well-targeted policy measures to support the growth of low carbon heat networks should be developed between now and 2020 so that these opportunities can be supported by existing funding commitments and contribute to the fourth and fifth carbon budgets. Responding to the report, ADE Director Dr Tim Rotheray said, “We welcome the urgent call to action for a long term strategy to decarbonise heat and its recognition of the importance of bringing forward new heat infrastructure.” An investment framework that levels the playing field between heat and other types of networks has the potential to reduce investor risk and attract major international and UK investors allowing these options to succeed without subsidy from 2021.Yet a real question remains over the decarbonisation of industrial heat energy use, which accounts for over 20% of all sectors’ energy use in the UK, and which went unaddressed in todays report. As the government considers its industrial strategy, technologies such as combined heat and power that help to drive efficiency, while improving the competitiveness of British industry, should become the backbone of any plan. The report titled Next Steps for UK Heat Policy can be read at, http://https://documents.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Next-steps-for-UK-heat-policy-Committee-on-Climate-Change-October-2016.pdf