Posted by Theresa McManus, Sustainable Projects Manager at Dorset Energy Advice Centre
At the end of March 2012, the government launched their strategy for low carbon heat.
According to the strategy,
“By 2050, we need to remove all direct greenhouse gas emissions from heating our buildings. This is exceedingly challenging, and means that any heat generated at building level must be set on a low carbon footing by replacing fossil fuel-based heating technologies within individual buildings, such as natural gas or oil fired boilers, with low carbon alternatives.” It goes on to add that “ Before we do this, maximising the efficiency of our gas boilers will help realize cost and carbon savings in the short and medium term.”.
Whilst this strategy clarifies that we must move away from using gas and oil to heat our homes to using low carbon alternatives, I don’t feel that it places enough emphasis on the importance of insulation and other energy efficiency measures have in reducing energy demand.
Indeed, reducing energy demand is our first priority, as we already know that we cannot easily meet today’s demands with clean, renewable and sustainable technologies.
For more details of the stratgey see http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn12_034/pn12_034.aspx.
