Forum topic: The end of gas boilers is approaching - what comes next?

The end of gas boilers is approaching - what comes next?

To get carbon emissions down, which we need to do urgently, we need to tackle one of the current main sources of greenhouse gases - domestic heating. This requires improvements to homes so that we need to heat them less (mainly through better insulation), but it also needs us to completely phase out gas heating.

Just switching to electric heating will not be the complete answer. Electricity is not yet carbon-free and the shift to electric cars, vans and buses will make huge demands on electricity generation and distribution.

Heat pumps will be an important part of the future heating mix. These recent presentations by Dermot Barnes and Bean Beanland to the Highgate Society explains in some detail how we can start making the transition and the pitfalls we need to watch out for.

I thought this was a very interesting presentation and it prompted me to ask the council a couple of questions about the policy that Enfield Council might adopt in future given that the climate crisis is so firmly on their agenda. I have sent the following email to the leader and deputy leader of the council. I would be grateful if the presenters of the video would correct me if any of the points I have made below are not right.

The other point I left out was whether a priority should be given to changing the energy supply system to schools, public buildings, offices, hospitals etc using heat pumps. Is this a cost-effective solution at the moment? It would at least signal a change to the community at large. I was surprised there were not any other comments on this post.

Finally, at the end of the video there was a statement about the cost to the average home for a heat pump installation which is currently projected at £35-45k which is outside the affordability of most people even with government grants. The average condensing gas boiler costs £3k.

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Dear Cllr Caliskan and Barnes,

Hope all OK with you.

I watched an interesting and informative video presentation on the Palmers Green Community Newsletter about heat pumps and alternative energy sources as per this link:

https://www.pgweb.uk/forum/environmental-issues/1290-the-end-of-gas-boilers-is-approaching-what-comes-next#6070

This is an area that I have both a personal and professional interest in as I have worked for several major energy companies on publications dealing with the use of world energy sources and also projections on future developments.

The presentation was good but flawed in several areas mainly to do with the fact that the government has not yet set the agenda in terms of a firm policy and commitment (the grant system for example is not very generous). Previous estimates have timescales for implementation by 2050 and the current cost estimates for new heat pump systems are outside the budget of most households so the headline on the article ’The end of gas boilers is approaching’ is not yet true. I have already spoken to heating engineers about this aspect.

However, I was just interested to know what Enfield Council’s take is on the subject.

For example, how will the Meridian Water development be supplied with heat and energy?

What will happen with other developments as mentioned on the Enfield Plan published recently?

There is also another aspect to this where thousands of flat dwellers with cladding already are facing onerous financial burdens to renovate their properties so new heating sources will be off the agenda for them.

Also most projected estimates (source: bp Technology Review 2018) say that only larger homes can use these systems yet already in several mainland European countries (particularly in Scandinavia) they use community heating systems to supply blocks of flats or housing estates. Something that hardly exists in the UK as far as I am aware. Do Enfield have any plans to implements such systems?

Would be interested to hear your views on this.

All the best,

Neil

I received a reply from Enfield Council and they are using a company called Energetik for a community based heating system as detailed here so that is definitely a step in the right direction but does make me wonder whether retrofitting similar systems is practical for existing homes? https://governance.enfield.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=108&MId=13694&Ver=4

This puts things in context. A disastrous government policy. We will be going nowhere soon despite the good intentions: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/27/uk-government-scraps-green-homes-grant-after-six-months

How will any council square that with their carbon neutral policies or whatever they want to call them? I can see what all the fuss is about regarding the new waste incinerator. That is a story that is not going to go away. Gives me something else to ask the council about.

Decentralised energy generally seems to go back to a London energy masterplan in the late noughties and certainly the idea of piping along the A406, connecting to a north / south Lea Valley network, was being discussed before the PG town hall was converted into flats.

Heat networks - pipework that carries hot water connecting sources of energy to homes and business to meet their space heating and hot water needs – are seemingly recognised by the Mayor and HMG as being essential in meeting climate change targets. The Mayor is exploring how to increase the rate of their development in London.

My understanding of the local (Lea Valley) scheme is a network with multiple entry points for those with surplus energy, eg the incinerator, the sewerage works, factories perhaps through their cooling systems, generally the utilisation of local secondary heating sources, and exit points for use of the energy; households in the main I presume. If Energetic is all or a part of this not clear.

A chart from the latest NLWP draft gives some idea of the reach, although what is hope / planned and what is currently in place is not known to me or clear from the chart. On the chart I’ve always been intrigued by the large area identified north of the A406 and to the east of Green Lanes, sort of centred on the bus garage as an opportunity area.

Re use of the incinerator to provide heat to the Energetik network, on Thursday Inside Science on Radio 4 did a feature on Citigen, which is a combined heat a power plant adjacent to Farringdon station, supplying electricity and heat to numerous buildings. It currently uses gas supplemented with waste heat from other buildings, but is building a huge ground source heat pump, which will provide both heating and cooling - heat pumps can work in both directions and cooling will be increasingly important in summers to come.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xfh9

There's more in this Guardian report https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/23/low-carbon-heating-system-to-warm-up-londons-square-mile

Use of large heat pumps for district heating is preferable to individual heat pumps for each building, especially for flats and new build. Why can't Energetik be powered by one of these, which would heat homes with zero emissions (providing the electricity for the heat pump comes from a carbon-free source)? Has any consideration been given to this? With technologies advancing so quickly it is indefensible for the NLWA and Enfield Council to refuse to review the incinerator project?

For information about Citigen as currently configured, see https://www.eon.com/en/business-customers/city-energy-solutions/projects/citigen.html and watch the video.