Kwasi Kwarteng: both heat pumps and hydrogen boilers help drive decarbonization.
[Autobala] Business Secretary said MP heat and building strategy would arrive “soon” as speculation continued about what the government would look like to reduce domestic emissions.Executive Secretary Kwasi Kwaten told MP that there is “no silver bullet” to decarbonize heat, but as consumer uptake accelerates to support the government’s climate goals, heat pumps, hydrogen, etc. We are confident that the cost of clean technology will fall sharply in the 2020s. ..
The government will install 600,000 heat pumps annually from 2028 as part of efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s infamous inefficient home and building heating, and by the end of 2010, the UK’s first “ We have set an ambition to provide “Hydrogen Town”. However, the transition from fossil fuels for heating is widely regarded as one of the most pressing decarbonization challenges, and companies and analysts say the UK is terrible to reach its Green Heat goals. It repeatedly warns that it is not on track.
The government has promised that detailed strategies for heating and decarbonizing buildings, as well as a national hydrogen strategy, are imminent and will help facilitate investment in various green heat technologies. However, the long-awaited document has yet to come out, as major controversies have been reported between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Finance over how to fund new plans.
Mr. Kwarten, who spoke at a parliamentary commission hearing yesterday, said he was looking forward to the long-awaited enthusiasm and building strategy. Rumor has it that it will be even later until this fall -“Soon”, the government plans to build a home refurbishment market and replace fossil fuel gas boilers to reach the net zero goal.
Asked why the heat and building strategy was repeatedly delayed, Kwarteng said it was cautiously together because of the frustration of the green economy, which is still waiting for many major policy plans, including a comprehensive net-zero strategy. The whole Whitehall said it was a matter of interweaving work.
Mr. Kwarten:
Looking at the heat and building strategy, I think we need to see it as part of a broader strategy, which is a broader impetus for a consistent Net Zero plan.
“My own view, which I expressed when I was the Minister of Energy, was that the hydrogen strategy probably made sense to come before the heat and building strategy. Others are different. I’ve seen it, but I’m sure it will happen. “
He said the hydrogen strategy was likely to appear first, but, as rumored, “cannot guarantee” that it will be announced this week prior to Congress’s summer vacation. But he promised that the strategy would arrive “very, very soon”.
“A net zero strategy will also be announced in September,” he added. “The question is where do heat and building strategies fit into all of these? Staging all of these strategies because they are all published and all are very good and progressive. It’s an interesting and very important task to consider. We need to come up with a way to land all these strategies in the most effective way possible. “
With just 35,000 heat pumps installed across the UK in 2019, the government faces the major challenge of accelerating the market and achieving its goal of installing 600,000 heat pumps annually within seven years.
Kwarteng acknowledged that achieving this ambition was a major challenge. Especially considering that installing a heat pump can currently cost up to £ 10,000. But he cites similar rapid cost savings for electric vehicles (EVs) and offshore wind over the last decade: “If there is a clear signal to the market, investors are good enough to lower their prices. Will make a great investment. “
Heat pump proponents claim to offer the most cost-effective solution for replacing gas boilers with electric heating in many UK homes and buildings, but move existing gas grids to hydrogen. There is growing concern about the infrastructure and cost challenges of doing so.
The Climate Change Commission says it will need to install 900,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, but Kwarten argued that there was “no silver bullet” to decarbonize heat. He added, “I strongly believe that hydrogen can be used to decarbonize buildings.” Pump and heating network.
“Heat pumps aren’t going to provide 100 percent of the answers-they are part of the solution,” he said. “I strongly believe in the idea that hydrogen can be part of a building decarbonization solution. [The CCC’s] The 900,000 figures per year basically assume that hydrogen is a non-starter, but I disagree. “
Kwarteng was also asked about the Green Homes Grant Scheme, a flagship voucher program set up by the government to fund energy efficiency during a pandemic, but with a myriad of toothing problems. Was abolished earlier this year due to the occurrence of.
The government at the time accused the end of the system of low public support, but the Executive Secretary admitted yesterday that he faced “difficulty in terms of diversification of funds and supply chains,” but now it is an alternative. We are discussing the idea. Financing program.
“We are discussing how we can improve and make better plans,” he said. “That makes perfect sense as far as I am concerned.”
He also said that the public sector and social housing elements of the system worked well. “Green Homes grants are often portrayed as unsuccessful. In fact, they have had some success,” Quarten argued.
Housing Minister Chris Pincher also appeared at the BEIS Committee hearing. Both he and Kwarteng were asked about the need to ensure that new homes are built on a net zero basis to avoid the need for homeowners to invest in costly refurbishments in the future. .. Since 2017, more than 500,000 homes have been built and will need to be upgraded to meet Net Zero standards in the future.
“In the perfect world,” new homes should have been built to zero-carbon standards, Pincher said, but home construction needs to surge to meet demand, and home refurbishment costs will be significantly higher in the near future. Stated. Less important than expected. “
Housing Minister Chris Pincher.
It waits for the industry to prepare the skills and kits to produce those homes.
Pincher who said the UK needs to build more than 250,000 homes each year to meet demand. It means you can’t. ” He argued that the Future Homes Standard, which demands new homes with low-carbon heating from 2025, is a “reasonable time frame for building skills and resources.”
Both Kwarteng and Pincher have reiterated their commitment to accelerating the transition to net-zero, but on how the UK’s emission targets will be met until the government’s comprehensive decarbonization strategy is announced. , You are expected to face even more questions.
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“No silver bullet”: Kwasi Kwarteng claims that both heat pumps and hydrogen boilers help drive decarbonization. July 21, 2021