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The Opportunity to Revolutionize Heating Has Already Arrived

By District Energy posted 07-06-2020 14:02

  

Edie

Summary

In the immediacy of a global pandemic it's sobering to reflect that it is climate change that remains the foremost challenge humanity faces and Thursday's chastening Progress Report to Parliament published by the Committee on Climate Change is a timely reminder to all of us that the clock to 2050 continues to run down.

It recommends that ministers act with urgency and decisiveness in securing a green and resilient recovery following COVID-19 should be heard by all of us.

There’s plenty of evidence that the message is well understood by many. Commenting on social media, Andy Yuill of Natural Power observed that we should already be “decarbonising a city the size of Sheffield every 16 weeks” if we are to have a planet habitable for future generations.

Whatever can be done now, in 2020, to lower our carbon footprint should be done. It must be done.

Enter heat networks, which have the proven capability to transform the way we heat our homes and businesses, a process that currently accounts for over a third of our total greenhouse gas emission output. With a significant push from the government, which nurtures incentives for businesses, consumers and investors alike, all parties would be remiss not to interrogate this opportunity, especially in this period of economic hibernation brought on by COVID-19.

Heat networks are networks of pipes (typically underground) that transfer heat from a centralised source – often heat that would have otherwise gone to waste - and deliver it to multiple buildings directly. The efficiencies heat networks offer are vital since they not only reduce gas consumption – but waste far less energy than the national grid. Developing them into a major part of our energy mix could be essential in the fight against climate change and an important component in upgrading our urban areas into smart cities of the future.

In order to kick-start the transition to heat networks from the more carbon-intensive national grid, the government has set aside £320m in grants and low-interest loans to be distributed via its Heat Network Investment Project (HNIP) to create the market conditions for businesses, local authorities and investors to come together to develop new or extended heat networks.

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