HPA release report outlining steps to decarbonise the UK heating industry in the next decade

Today the Heat Pump Association released a ground-breaking report outlining the steps that the UK Government must take to shape future policy and decarbonise the heating industry.

The report aims to substantially shake up the existing frameworks and introduce regulatory, impactful, and meaningful changes in the heating sector, paving the way for mass deployment of low carbon heating. 

The aims of the report are to:

1. Promote changes to establish infrastructure in existing homes for low carbon heating
2. Build and develop installer skills for the recommended changes
3. Lower fuel bills for existing heating systems
4. Lower carbon emissions for existing heating systems

These aims are comprehensive, providing enough detail to influence civil servants and policy makers on the benefits of implementing these changes as well communicating the benefits to the industry.

The report sets out to ‘level the playing field’ across all heating types, encouraging best practice and low carbon heating for all installations, regardless of technology type. This will ensure the smooth transformation of the domestic heating market from fossil fuels to low carbon over the next decade, reducing fuel bills and carbon emissions from homes.

The recommendations can be neatly summarised into three key points:

• Introduce a maximum flow temperature of 55℃ in Building Regulations to be applied to replacement heating systems from 2026.
• Introduce in Building Regulations for Heat Loss Calculations to be carried out for all replacement heating systems from 2026.
• All heating installers to have a Low Temperature Heating and Hot Water Qualification^[i], or equivalent, as part of accreditation scheme refresher courses.

The implementation of these recommendations will establish the heating infrastructure in homes, and skills amongst the installer base, needed for low carbon heating installations, by ‘laying the groundwork’ for wider heat pump adoption. Heat pumps being an established technology, recognised by the Committee on Climate change as the backbone to the decarbonisation of heat.

Chairman of the HPA, Graham Wright commented - ‘This report could not come at a more pertinent time. The push for a Green Recovery from Covid-19 has put the UK in a unique position to be able to develop new and innovative policy that works to tackle the negative effects of the pandemic whilst working towards net zero. The regulations suggested in this paper undoubtably offer the Government a road to recovery for the heating industry that is green and saves energy and money for the UK.’