Decarbonising heat in homes: first hearing and evidence published
5 February 2021
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee gives its first evidence session with academics and industry witnesses as part of its decarbonising heat in homes inquiry.
- Watch on Parliament TV: Decarbonising heat in homes
- Read the written evidence: Decarbonising heat in homes
- Inquiry: Decarbonising heart in homes
- Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee
Witnesses
Tuesday 9 February
At 10.30am
- Dr Richard Lowes, Research Fellow and Lecturer, University of Exeter
- Professor Janette Webb, Professor of Sociology of Organisation, University of Edinburgh
- Dr Will McDowall, Associate Professor, University College London
- Professor Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy, University of Oxford
At 11.30am
- Craig Dyke, Head of Strategy and Regulation, National Grid Electricity System Operator
- Ian Rippin, Chief Executive Officer, Microgeneration Certification Scheme Service Company
- Gus McIntosh, Director of Energy Futures, SGN
- Graham Halladay, Operations Director, Western Power Distribution
Purpose of the session
The evidence session will consider what technologies are the most viable to deliver the decarbonisation of heating across the UK, the barriers to scaling up low carbon heating technologies, and the lessons we can learn from past and existing policies.
Written evidence
As well as the evidence session, the Committee has also published its written evidence submissions.
It features a range of business, industry and research groups and consumer organisations, local authorities and others.
Purpose of the inquiry
Decarbonising heat in homes examines the Government’s Buildings and Heat Strategy.
It investigates the policies, priorities and timelines which are needed to decarbonise heating in residential buildings and help ensure the UK gets on track to deliver Net Zero by 2050.
It also plans to examine:
- Technological challenges to decarbonising heat
- Issues around infrastructure and distributing costs
- Incentives, regulation and consumer engagement and protection
- How to coordinate and deliver low-carbon heating
Chair's comments
Darren Jones, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said:
"The heating of homes is a major contributor to UK greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonising heating will need to form a central plank of our efforts to achieve net zero by 2050.
"The scale, cost and complexity of the challenge to decarbonise heating in homes is considerable. There is no silver bullet, there is no one size fits all approach.
"As a country, it’s vital we now press ahead with mapping out the steps necessary to move away from traditional gas boilers in homes across the country.
"We look forward to examining the Government’s heat strategy, when published, and seeing how far it delivers on the urgent need for a long-term policy for heat that gets to grips with the challenges ahead of us.
"In this inquiry, we will want to see how far this upcoming strategy addresses issues around cost and technology, on protecting consumers and the fuel poor, and enabling the UK to seize the potential for new jobs and industries while helping the UK meet its net zero commitments."
Further information
Image: CC0, Pexels