UK’s home gas boilers emit twice as much CO2 as all power stations – need for policy to rapidly introduce low-carbon heating such as heat pumps

06 Oct 2021

According to a recent country report, the United Kingdom has 26.2 million households, 22 million of which are heated by gas. A study published in the Guardian shows UK’s home gas boilers emit twice as much CO2 as all gas-fired power stations. The finding highlighted the urgent need for a strong government policy to rapidly introduce low-carbon heating such as heat pumps. Moreover, the data also shows that home gas boilers collectively produce eight times as much nitrogen dioxide as power plants. NO2 is an air pollutant linked to tens of thousands of early deaths a year in the UK.

Ministers have promised to publish their heat and buildings strategy before the UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/29/uks-home-gas-boilers-emit-twice-as-much-co2-as-all-power-stations-study

This study is a reminder of the critical need to:

(i) invest heavily in technologies such as heat pumps;

(ii) continuously developing the work in international collaboration programmes such as the  Technology Collaboration Programme on Heat Pumping Technologies (HPT TCP) within the IEA, which have actively been a leading player in generating and communicating independent knowledge on heat pumping technologies with 17 member countries worldwide since 1978, and

(iii) introduce strategic governmental mission-driven policies to support the deployment of low carbon technologies.

In September 2021, the UK delegates within HPT TCP led a two-day workshop in collaboration with the IEA Heat Pump Centre to establish a new international collaboration project (so-called Annex) within the HPT TCP for the design and operation of retrofit heat pump systems for large buildings in order to maximize heat pump market penetration. Moreover, several other Annexes aiming at enhancing the development and deployment of heat pumping technologies are, and have been, performed within the HPT TCP.