Scottish Government

Climate watchdog proposes major reforms of Scottish EPC ratings

CCC proposals for EPC reforms in Scotland consist of introducing new ranking method for unique heating systems based on their direct emissions

The Weather Change Committee (CCC) has set out suggestions to reform Scotland’s Electricity Performance Certification (EPC) ratings with a revised focus on small carbon warmth.

CCC Chair Lord Deben has argued that the current EPC technique is not in good shape for purpose and has ultimately unsuccessful to incentivise the adoption in houses of electrical power effectiveness advancements and reduced carbon heating.

The opinions were being designed in an open letter composed to MSP Andrew Harvie, the Scottish Government’s minister for Zero Carbon Properties, Energetic Vacation and Tenants’ Rights.

Lord Deben mentioned the CCC recognized that devolved authorities in Scotland had been contemplating distinctive possibilities for rethinking the metrics of how strength performance is measured in homes under the EPC.

He mentioned that the committee welcomed efforts to review the existing EPC system in the country and wished to give assistance on the very best solutions for measuring the energy performance of houses in line with slicing carbon emissions.

Heating process rankings

4 most important proposals have been established out by the CCC in regards to reshaping EPC rankings. These include things like rating heating systems based mostly on their immediate carbon emissons.

A complete of six rankings are proposed by the CCC. The to start with of these ranks consists of heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps related to a biomass or hydrogen boiler with a green supply of the fuel and are classed as a ‘low emission option’.

The remaining five ranks mark a descending scale of performance ranging from other lower emissions methods this sort of as a hydrogen boiler linked to a green hydrogen supply and a warmth community working with a reduced emissions heat supply. Other rankings include district heat methods related to fossil fuel sources.

The sixth and last rank applies to present purely natural gasoline or oil boilers bought on the market.

The CCC said that the ranking would serve to give clarity on the various merits of using heating units when deciding how power productive a residence is.

New metrics

Other recommendations for reforming the EPC rating contains a concentrate on overall vitality use intensity centered close to kWh/m2/yr. This would serve to give customers distinct data about the energy use in a house and aid enhance understanding about where improvements can be designed, the CCC said,

Yet another focus would be on identifying the fabric of a home and how this impacts overall energy effectiveness without having taking into consideration the heating process staying utilized.

The CCC reported: “It accurately incentivises enhancements to cloth performance when focused by plan, and can be made use of to evaluate genuine performance of present creating material and any enhancements designed.”

The ultimate metric proposed by the committee would appear at energy price depth dependent on the selling price of electrical power use for every sq. metre of property in a year (£/m2/yr).

These four metrics ought to also be backed by the inclusion of added residence-certain details that could impression the ECP rating, the CCC included.

These supplemental elements can include the flooring region of a property, what amounts of on-web site electricity generation there may be, as properly as the options for need overall flexibility to feed electrical power again into the grid.

Lord Deben’s letter included that the existing EPC system makes use of an “Energy Performance Rating’ (EER) that is typically made use of when devising coverage or when providing households. He said that the EER only served as a measure of electrical power fees and not system effectiveness.

Lord Deben mentioned: “It does not accurately incentivise the power efficiency and heating options required to decrease emissions.”

The CCC claimed it hoped to see reforms not only of the metrics used to assess the EPC scores, but also advancements to the all round method these types of as an overhaul of the SAP methodology applied to work out making effectiveness.

It also identified as for enhancements in the consistency and quality of EPC assessments by way of a concentrate on education and oversight.

Enhanced digital applications for the presentation of EPC data to aid look at and evaluate achievable overall performance and cloth alterations ended up also backed by the CCC.

The CCC reported that the EPC system could also be expanded as a suggests to superior tell householders about the risks to their house of overheating and flooding.

Lord Deben said the committee hoped to see increased clarity in the method for measuring electrical power efficiency.

He stated: “It is vital that the Scottish Government takes this prospect to get EPCs ideal, and we hope that our information can be of assist in this regard.”

Net zero overview

The publication of the British isles Govt-commissioned web zero assessment final thirty day period also backed revising the EPC rankings in buy to support give occupants a clearer view of the performance of a assets.

The findings from Conservative MP Chris Skidmore concluded that the current EPC technique and measurements were not successful to produce internet zero households and buildings. The critique stated: “The EPC rating of a home can at times present a worse score just after installing a heat pump simply because of the inclusion of the price of heating in the score, and this assessment staying primarily based on outdated assumptions.”

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By nigemord@gmail.com / February 6, 2023

'boiler ban' direct emissions heating systems (DEH) Future Homes Standard Heat Pump Insight New Building Heat Standard (NBHS) News Scottish Government

Scotland proposes 2024 new build ban on natural gas boilers

Second section of a consultation launched to define a new national standard for new and converted structures in Scotland could see a ban on fossil gas warmth programs that right emit carbon

Scotland is proposing to ban the use of all-natural gas boilers in new establish houses from 2024. The pledge is one particular of several measures set out in the second part of a Scottish Government session on a New Creating Heat Conventional (NBHS).

Opinions is remaining sought until finally 20 October for the proposals that would necessarily mean direct emissions heating units (DEH) can not be mounted in new domestic and non-domestic structures. These proposals are also anticipated to use in the case wherever an current developing is currently being transformed.

Boilers managing on pure gasoline or oil would be amid the units banned underneath the NBHS. Nonetheless, even more exploration is even now needed into the potential of hydrogen to provide zero emissions heat, the Scottish Authorities stated.

The United kingdom govt is expected to established out aims for a Long term Residences Common for England that it is anticipated prime will ban utilizing existing gas boilers in new build properties from 2025. Even so, Scotland is hunting to moving even faster to introduce a ban on units designed to exclusively run on fossil fuels and that specifically create carbon emissions to deliver warmth.

Independent study commissioned by the Scottish Government has looked to establish the various solutions that could be deemed compliant with the NBHS. The investigate was undertaken by the ClimateXChange (CXC) advisory team and has mentioned a number of technologies that do not create “direct, in-constructing greenhouse emissions from ordinary operation at place of use”.

Beneath this definition, the pursuing methods can be set up under the NBHS proposals:

– Heat pumps,

– Warmth networks,

– Photo voltaic thermal and solar thermal storage techniques,

– Electric powered storage heaters.

– Electrical boilers,

– Gasoline cells

Direct electric heaters, this kind of as lover heaters, thermal fluid-filled radiators and radiant heaters are also deemed suitable with the new criteria, based mostly on the investigate.

A person remedy not approved for use less than the Scottish Government’s proposals is bioenergy. It concluded that bioenergy and biofuels do not have a “significant very long-expression job in offering warmth in buildings” as it still emits greenhouse fuel at the stage of use. Problems ended up also lifted in study about the effect of ensuing a enough offer of bioresoruces to satisfy demand for feasible use in heating.

The consultation document extra, “Our strategy is to see bioenergy used in which it has the greatest value in minimizing emissions, and wherever the benefit of squandered bioresources can be harnessed effectively – consequently, we have established a Bioenergy Policy Operating Team which will contemplate these difficulties in advance of publishing a Bioenergy Action Strategy in 2023.”

This technique to bioenergy mirrored the conclusions of Scotland’s Warmth in Buildings System that was released very last calendar year.

Hydrogen opportunity

The Session also called for much more scientific tests into the likely for making use of 100 for every cent hydrogen in domestic heat.

The session said that current research experienced been inconclusive about irrespective of whether greenhouse gas emissions are created from the combustion of pure hydrogen underneath the typical operating problems of boilers developed for the fuel.

Further more impartial laboratory tests will be commissioned by the Scottish Authorities into the problem.

The consultation claimed, “Once the screening has concluded, we will set out our position on the use of 100 for every cent hydrogen for room and hot h2o heating in new buildings.”

Formidable proposals

Scotland’s Zero Carbon Buildings Minister Patrick Harvie said the session was currently being utilised to outline bold options to deal with carbon emissions from the country’s properties. An believed fifth of the country’s whole carbon emissions are attributed to the running of its households and buildings, included Mr Harvie.

He stated, “New buildings will guide the way in chopping emissions, and earlier this 12 months we released new vitality standards that will minimize emissions of all new make houses by practically a third.”

A significant aim of the new proposals would be to guarantee that households and properties could sufficiently satisfy desire for what, although also getting less expensive and greener, explained Mr Harvie.

“We have been operating with field to notify the growth of the proposed new regulations and I would urge people and organisations to share their views to aid shape and advise their supply.”

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By nigemord@gmail.com / August 1, 2022

heat networks heat pumps heat strategy Hydrogen net zero heat News Scottish Government

Scotland publishes £1.8 billion Heat in Buildings Strategy

Scottish govt seeks ‘urgent’ action from Westminster to publish its very own method and to fast deploy zero emissions warmth engineering

The Scottish Government has printed its have Warmth in Properties Strategy, piling tension on Westminster to stick to accommodate and release its substantially-delayed version just before the COP 26 assembly in November.

Scotland’s Warmth in Buildings Tactic (see summary and total tactic beneath) sets out the pathway for a two-thirds minimize in greenhouse fuel emissions from households and properties, which it claims presently account for about a fifth of Scotland’s emissions, by 2030. It will demand more than a million residences and the equal of 50,000 non-domestic structures to transform to zero emissions warmth by 2030, employing primarily a mixture of warmth pumps and heat networks, which it describes as ‘no- or lower-regret’ systems.

Its most bold evaluate is to build regulation that will demand all new structures for which a making warrant is utilized for from 2024 to use zero emissions heat. This, the governing administration says, will steer clear of new buildings obtaining to be net zero retrofitted at a later on date.

Energy effectiveness

At the coronary heart of the method will be attempts to strengthen the energy effectiveness of properties and ramping up of heat pump installations. The authorities envisages ‘the significant majority’ of structures to be at EPC Degree C by 2030 and all properties by 2033.

It claims: “To realize this, we want to promptly ramp up the tempo of installations of zero emissions heating systems. New years have noticed all over 3,000 renewable heating devices installed in Scotland’s properties on a yearly basis. To keep progress toward our statutory emission reduction targets, this have to scale up to a total of at least 124,000 devices put in concerning 2021 and 2026. The installation amount will require to peak at in excess of 200,000 new techniques for each annum by the late-2020s – which is previously mentioned the pure alternative price for boilers.””

“Over the coming years we propose a concentrate on power efficiency, warmth pumps in off-gas parts and in those people on-fuel regions minimum probable to convert to hydrogen, and heat networks in appropriate areas. These are the key “no and reduced regrets” deployment prospects and strategic technologies available now. They are the technological options where cost uncertainty is low .”

Technology concentrate

Between other most important features of the know-how tactic are a aim on escalating the proportion of biomethane in the fuel grid over the subsequent 10 years continued exploration into the economics and practicalities of blending hydrogen into the community, jointly with quick enhancement of renewable hydrogen resources and elevated deployment of heat networks, together with consulting on proposals to make anchor professional buildings ‘heat-community-ready’.

The approach calls for heat networks to be powered by minimal and zero emission resources, particularly heat pumps and recovered squander heat. It suggests: “When regulation of the heat network sector is executed we will only consent warmth networks with reduced and zero emission warmth sources.”

A further important component is the establishment of a Green Warmth Finance Job Pressure to discover ‘innovative options to maximise non-public sector expenditure, and to come across new means to support folks and organisations unfold the upfront value of investing in creating their properties hotter, greener and a lot more electrical power productive.’

It intends a important public engagement workout to elevate recognition of the great importance of zero emission systems, but highlights that lower running fees have to also be a precedence for gas-weak houses.

Economic uplift

The Scottish Federal government estimates that the changeover to zero emissions warmth could help around 16,400 employment across the economic climate in 2030

Scotland’s Zero Carbon Buildings Minister Patrick Harvie stated: “The ambition set out in our Heat in Buildings Technique is sizeable, and rightly so on the eve of COP26 coming to Glasgow. Urgent action is necessary if we are to stand a chance of limiting warming to below 1.5 degrees. As we just take these bold methods to decrease emissions from our residences and structures, we must do so in a way that leaves no-one behind. This technique sets out the guiding principles that will make sure our steps to decarbonise heat do not have a detrimental effect on fees of fuel poverty and as an alternative serve to deal with social inequalities.”

He explained: “This is a massive transition, affecting communities, organizations and homes all across Scotland and we should function collaboratively – throughout public and non-public sectors, throughout parliament, and throughout governments – to produce it. Our Technique also would make it very clear that, to produce the transformational improve expected, the British isles Authorities must take urgent motion in reserved areas to support the just transition to decarbonised heating. Our Technique commits to phasing out the need to have to install new or substitution fossil gasoline boilers, and to check with on introducing new laws and polices to underpin this changeover and bold expense programme, but equal motion from the Uk Govt in reserved parts, these kinds of as on power pricing, will be crucial to deliver these commitments.”

Mr Harvie was traveling to the NG Households challenge in Springburn, Glasgow, where Scottish Federal government funding of £9 million has supported the set up of a communal zero emissions heating system. The task, which spans across six social housing tower blocks, is predicted save much more than 650 households up to 60 per cent in vitality charges.

The potential clients for lower carbon warmth, together with a particular focus on warmth networks, will be talked over at our summit upcoming Thursday, 14 October (see report down below).

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By nigemord@gmail.com / October 13, 2021