In the wake of the Stern report, Baxi Group has written to the Secretary of State for the Environment with the findings of a new review which concludes that an extra 1.1 Mt/C (million tonnes carbon emissions) savings per year could be achieved from the UK's 19 million domestic heating systems by 2010 with a more effective home energy strategy.
The savings would represent a further 7% cut in total emissions from domestic heating and hot water systems. Currently around 16.5Mt/C (million tonnes carbon emissions) are generated per year by UK domestic heating and hot water systems, representing around 19% of all UK carbon emissions.
The Baxi review highlights a number of particular issues:
- Replacing older, less efficient boilers with high efficiency condensing boiler technologies is the most cost effective way of helping to secure the Government's Energy Review targets. The UK has an ageing and inefficient boiler population with an estimated 6.5 million domestic boilers in the UK still using highly inefficient pilot lights. More than 8.5 million households have a boiler which is over 10 years old. If just half the existing 6.5 million pilot light boilers were replaced by the year 2010 this would provide an additional carbon saving of 1.1 MtC/per year. ( or 7% of current UK carbon emissions from domestic heating and hot water systems.)
Potential carbon savings are also being jeopardised because, faced with the increased installation cost of a high efficiency boiler required by new regulations in April 2006, households are opting to repair their inefficient boilers rather than replace them. From a peak of 1.64 million boiler sales in the UK in 2004, sales declined to 1. 56 million boilers in 2005, 1.53 million are forecast to be sold in 2006, and 1.49 million in 2007. (Source BRG Consult). Baxi estimates that additional carbon emission savings from the new regulations are currently running at 0.6. Mt/C per year.
Baxi CEO Mark Edwards said; "The government has made some valuable strides towards reducing carbon emissions but we believe the potential for energy savings is much greater and is available now. There is much focus on new "sexy" technologies such as wind and solar. Baxi and others are working on these technologies but while they have the potential to make a significant contribution to carbon savings in the future their contribution will be limited for some years, they are not suitable for many homes and they are relatively expensive. Significant savings could be achieved now with better use of existing, proven high efficiency/condensing boiler technologies and the right consumer incentives."
Baxi's letter to the Secretary of State suggests a revised incentive scheme and other actions such as an increased focus on public information.
The Baxi review also highlights how in the next decade new technologies will come on stream. However there are still significant hurdles to overcome such as planning issues for domestic wind power and metering for micro-CHP.
Mark Edwards commented; "Baxi and others in the heating industry are all working on developing new renewable technologies such as wind, solar and micro-CHP and there is no doubt they will play a valuable part in providing UK homes with heat and hot water in the future. Indeed wind, solar and some micro CHP products are already available, but there are still significant hurdles to be overcome before these products can be launched for a mass market, and it will take time. We should be focusing on action now with existing technologies for the mass market and the right consumer incentives."
The Baxi review provides a league table of technology options available for carbon saving, and explains to both consumers and government the need to consider three factors - carbon, energy and life cycle cost savings. Biomass (wood pellets), ground source heat pumps and high efficiency condensing boilers provide the largest carbon savings on a like for like basis, but some of these options score much less well in terms of capital cost. In terms of return on investment over the life of the product micro-CHP, micro-wind and boiler replacement fared best, although the survey does stress that different technologies will be appropriate for different domestic situations.
