What is the plan? Hydrogen? Free boiler replacement for 74% of UK houses?
Lots of people - people who sell gas that is - are banking on finding a way to make enough hydrogen but it doesn't stack up. To make heat from green hydrogen (i.e. hydrogen made from renewable energy) takes roughly x7 as many wind turbines (or whatever) as to make heat from a heat pump using the electricity directly. If we don't want x7 as many solar farms and turbines then we shouldn't be thinking of hydrogen for heating homes (unless we sell gas in which case it makes perfect sense - how else can we get revenue from the pipes?). It'll be used for power stations and heavy industry.
The current expectation is that it will be stick not carrot. If you can't sell or rent a house that has a gas boiler, you'll have to put in a heat pump unless it's your own house and you never move. If the energy market was better, so we paid a fair price for electricity and gas (rather than penalising electricity to subsidise gas, as is the case now), quite a lot of people would self fund the change. There may then be some system of grants for the rest. The supply chain for heat pumps needs to get its act together, of course - it's not there yet. The UK is a long way behind on the change over (because we have subsidised gas prices) but the manufacturers are capable of meeting the demand, it's installers we lack. The impact on house prices is probably giving them pause just now, but we have committed, in law, to net zero and we can't do it if we're burning gas, so it has to happen one way or another.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I lost hope about 10 years ago after decades of despair. Have you seen "Don't look up"? I'm sitting at the table with Leo at the end, talking about the food Could it really happen? Do we know if there are enough viable houses to meet targets? Many UK houses are in terrible condition with very little outdoor space. Single glazed windows with wooden frames are everywhere I look. I'd be more than happy for my tax contributions to be spent on this. I wish you all the luck to make this happen.
I lost hope about 10 years ago after decades of despair. Have you seen "Don't look up"? I'm sitting at the table with Leo at the end, talking about the food Could it really happen? Do we know if there are enough viable houses to meet targets? Many UK houses are in terrible condition with very little outdoor space. Single glazed windows with wooden frames are everywhere I look. I'd be more than happy for my tax contributions to be spent on this. I wish you all the luck to make this happen.
@dangermousie You've summed up many of the major problems for moving housing in the UK to ASHP. Assuming people do want to move, the costs in older housing stock will be astronomical. There are millions of Victorian and Edwardian properties with solid walls and very poor insulation. From my understanding, good insulation is really a prerequisite for ASHP because it runs at a lower temperature. Who is going to fund the costs involved and what would the timescales be. The 'rogue traders' will be licking their lips at the vast profits to be made by bodging jobs and running off.
KT53 said: From my understanding, good insulation is really a prerequisite for ASHP because it runs at a lower temperature.
It's a cost issue, not a technical one. Heat pumps are efficient enough at low temperature to make their cost to run neutral or better than a gas boiler. They CAN run at higher temperatures, but the efficiency drops below 4 so the gas comparison doesn't work. If electricity was closer in cost to gas, a lot more homes would fall into the 'it can work' camp. Then it's the cost of changing the heat source - heat pumps are more expensive than boilers but getting cheaper as the market builds. The people to install them are like hen's teeth, so cost a lot.
Having said all of that, making improvements to the housing stock so we all live in better quality homes would be better for everyone concerned. Developers and large landlords are the ones who see a significant problem with it. Grants for individuals may be affordable, if we chose to afford them. The money spent on Track and Trace, for example, would probably have got us a long way there
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
The current expectation is that it will be stick not carrot. If you can't sell or rent a house that has a gas boiler, you'll have to put in a heat pump unless it's your own house and you never move. If the energy market was better, so we paid a fair price for electricity and gas (rather than penalising electricity to subsidise gas, as is the case now), quite a lot of people would self fund the change. There may then be some system of grants for the rest. The supply chain for heat pumps needs to get its act together, of course - it's not there yet. The UK is a long way behind on the change over (because we have subsidised gas prices) but the manufacturers are capable of meeting the demand, it's installers we lack. The impact on house prices is probably giving them pause just now, but we have committed, in law, to net zero and we can't do it if we're burning gas, so it has to happen one way or another.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Could it really happen? Do we know if there are enough viable houses to meet targets? Many UK houses are in terrible condition with very little outdoor space. Single glazed windows with wooden frames are everywhere I look.
I'd be more than happy for my tax contributions to be spent on this. I wish you all the luck to make this happen.
Having said all of that, making improvements to the housing stock so we all live in better quality homes would be better for everyone concerned. Developers and large landlords are the ones who see a significant problem with it. Grants for individuals may be affordable, if we chose to afford them. The money spent on Track and Trace, for example, would probably have got us a long way there
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”