The use of all existing gas boilers could be banned in the UK from 2025.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), gas boilers should be banned from 2025 to aid the fight against climate change. Britain has ambitious targets and as green energy supply continues to ramp up, we can increasingly move toward carbon neutrality.
Green energy supply is playing a bigger and bigger part in electricity generation, but many houses in the UK are heated using natural gas. Apparently, heating needs account for one third of our carbon emissions.
So what about the ban? For new homes, a low-carbon alternative like a heat pump can be fitted. These highly efficient pieces of kit have been growing in popularity for the past few years. Heat pumps can provide heat in the winter and cooling in the summer, but have a high up-front cost to install. Other potential options include infared heating panels and solar thermal panels. Check out these options.
An example of how thermal solar works can be seen in this video.
Maybe the only negative of these proposals is that the IEA wants to make it mandatory for homeowners who already have a gas boiler to replace it with a new eco-friendly system, but these green systems can actually cost a lot of money.
Back at the end of 2020, Which? came out with an explanation of our carbon emissions from household heating, prospective plans to phase out existing boilers, possible replacements and the possible cost behind the replacements. The piece was focused around new build houses from 2025 onwards, but it seems this could now become a reality for us all.
“The installation of an air source heat pump in a medium-sized home is around £8,000, going up to £14,000 for a ground-source heat pump. This is more than three to five times the cost of a gas boiler.” – Which?
Unfortunately, the Green Homes Grant was scrapped in April, so there is currently no way for a regular gas boiler owning homeowner to afford to replace a one and a half thousand pound piece of equipment that keeps them warm on a cold winter evening, with on that’s 9 times more expensive.
As it stands, we don’t think any government will have the stomach to implements such a harsh policy without any type of financial support. So unfortunatley for now, greener heating is off the table.