Liquid Gas UK has called on the government to allow renewable-ready boilers to be installed in rural new-build homes that are not connected to the mains gas grid.
Responding the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation, Liquid Gas UK emphasised the need for a mixed technology approach to decarbonising rural, off-grid housing stock and recommended government should focus on setting parameters for achieving Net Zero targets, rather than prescribing specific solutions.
Advocating for a mixed technology approach, the trade body has called for renewable liquid gases such as bioLPG and rDME to be used in rural, off-grid home heating. BioLPG can provide up to 90% carbon emissions reduction compared to LPG, the company said. BioLPG is chemically indistinct from LPG, it noted, meaning it can be ‘dropped in’ to existing supply chains and heating appliances.
George Webb, CEO of Liquid Gas UK, said: “Domestic heating accounts for around 14% of the UK’s emissions, so decarbonising the way we all heat our homes will play a significant role in the UK meeting its Net Zero targets.
“While heat pumps will undoubtedly play a significant role in this transition, we need a mosaic of different technologies to ensure solutions are the right ones for different localities and take into account specific local challenges which may mean electrification is not a suitable approach.”
Rural locations have a much lower customer density, meaning the grid is far more likely to be underdeveloped, it cited. The company added that the increase in electrified heating, coupled with the increase EV usage could pose issues for the grid, and see localised blackouts. To mitigate this, it noted that the local network would need to be reinforced and this cost, one estimate suggests £50bn, would ultimately be passed on to customers.