National Centre for the Decarbonisation of Heat
Title: National Centre for the Decarbonisation of Heat
Duration: 3.36 mins
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[Birmingham Energy Institute logo]
Heating our homes and buildings accounts for over a third of carbon emissions produced in the UK. The decarbonisation of our heat supply is one of the big policy challenges to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. To overcome this challenge the University of Birmingham and the Confederation of British Industry suggests that 25 million homes must be converted to low carbon heating but this solution has its own challenges. We must consider: the type of property, the quality of thermal insulation and the most suitable heating solution. Local energy infrastructure must support the proposed low-carbon heating solutions whether that is heat pumps hydrogen boilers or district heating.
A national delivery body is needed to develop and implement a national decarbonisation of heat program. It will:
- coordinate action and planning to deliver net zero heat
- integrate local needs into a national plan to ensure the correct infrastructures in place support the local development of gas and heat grid infrastructure
- train more than a hundred thousand low-carbon heating engineers
- support the scaling of heating solutions manufacturing
- create a public communication plan
- ensure that a range of incentives and penalties are in place to drive the transition
- ensure that green finance is in place to support the transition
The national delivery body will need to be supported by several organisations such as the proposed National Centre for the Decarbonisation of Heat, the NCDH.
Indeed the NCDH would support the heat technologies manufacturing sector and help coordinate and train existing and new heating engineers. it would act as a business incubator, supporting small and medium enterprise innovators as they bring their products and services to the market in time to help achieve climate targets.
The NCDH building integration and living lab would provide the capability to test and demonstrate energy innovations, market arrangements, policy and regulations with real consumers. It would work with the standards bodies and industry to help ensure the standards are defined, met and implemented.
The location of the centre is crucial, based at Tyseley Energy Park in East Birmingham the center could use sources of low carbon electricity energy from waste plants and hydrogen from scaled up production on site.
The communities in East Birmingham have some of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country with often overcrowded housing a lack of quality infrastructure and high levels of unemployment. These communities have been the hardest hit by the COVID pandemic. The NCDH will put these communities at the front of a national transition that will improve homes, create jobs, and provide training. For further information visit birmingham.ac.uk/ncdh.
[University of Birmingham logo]
[University of Birmingham logo, Energy Research Accelerator logo, Manufacturing Technology Centre logo, Energy Capital logo, Energy Systems Catapult logo]
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