With heating accounting for almost a third of all UK carbon emissions, changing how we heat our buildings is critical if we are to achieve the UK’s net zero ambitions. And as the United Kingdom heads towards a general election during which net zero will be a central issue, ensuring that the right measures are in place to support the decarbonisation of our buildings will be vital to securing those ambitions.
Heat pumps are a proven and efficient technology, suitable for a wide range of applications, and available to be deployed at a mass scale today. The current government has begun to create the conditions which will allow us to decarbonise our buildings, including through encouraging the adoption of heat pumps, and setting the target of 600,000 heat pump installations domestically, every year, by 2028.
This ambition, alongside wider measures to set the right standards for residential and commercial buildings, is crucial to securing a net zero future for heating our buildings. However, businesses lack the certainty needed to help achieve the target.
Householders, businesses, installers and manufacturers need a clear roadmap for decarbonising residential and commercial heating in the UK to have the certainty to invest in capacity, infrastructure, and skills. To achieve this ambition, and grow the renewable heating market in the UK, the next government must adopt policies which will:
- Prioritise reducing energy costs, which will support jobs and manufacturing
- Enable a phased approach to retrofit, by setting consistent, actionable standards for the decarbonisation of all types of buildings
- Drive energy efficient building standards, providing clarity on how new buildings must be fitted for low carbon heating
1. Prioritise reducing energy costs, which will support jobs and manufacturing
In the UK, the wholesale price of electricity is pegged to the most expensive source needed to meet energy demand, usually gas. This means electricity prices are artificially inflated by the price of gas, despite more and more of our electricity being generated from renewables.
There is also an imbalance of social and environmental levies which are loaded onto electricity bills by the government. These add an average of £131 to a customer’s annual electricity bill, compared to just £34 for the average annual gas bill, and means that the cost of running a heat pump is artificially high when compared to a gas boiler.
This can be addressed by rebalancing the cost of electricity with a more progressive and environmentally conscious distribution of levies, and by de-coupling the price of electricity from the price of gas. This will not only help the industry, but also families struggling with the high cost-of-living.
The next government must continue with the planned consultation to rebalance the cost of electricity relative to gas, and implement that rebalancing as soon as possible.
2. Enable a phased approach to retrofit, by setting consistent, actionable standards for the decarbonisation of all types of buildings
The UK has a wide range of building types, with varying degrees of energy efficiency. These buildings require a range of measures, including heat pumps, to decarbonise heating.
For domestic buildings, the next government should prepare and adopt a phased approach to decarbonisation based around a new Heat Decarbonisation Standard. This will set out a framework for each type of housing to decarbonise, and would allow the energy efficiency and carbon impact of each domestic property to be steadily improved over time. A phased improvement of standards puts less immediate impact on consumers, and allows the market more time to adjust.
Most non-domestic buildings are heavily reliant upon gas for heating and hot water, and 70% of were constructed before 1995. Retrofitting these buildings will be a significant part of our future, and the next government can support retrofit by implementing the planned change to mandate the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) by 2030, requiring all non-domestic buildings to be assessed as EPC band B.
By providing clarity across these areas, we can achieve sustainable growth in demand for low carbon technologies, including heat pumps. The next government has a clear opportunity to be bold in its policymaking; it must not miss that opportunity.
3. Drive energy efficient building standards, providing clarity on how new buildings must be fitted for low carbon heating
The next government must provide clear policy and direction determining how new homes and commercial buildings will be fitted with low carbon heating. While the current Government published its consultation on the Future Homes Standard and Future Buildings Standard, both consultations must now be expeditiously implemented by the planned 2025 date and reflect a clear preference for heat pumps.
Secondly, a building regulations framework should be introduced, including guidance for improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings. It’s welcome that the new building regulations introduced in 2021 recognised the importance of building energy efficiency, but this did not provide the industry with the framework for how to improve efficiency, or share which technologies should be deployed. With the regulations now in force, this should be supplemented with a framework to encourage the adoption of innovative, low carbon technologies, and provide examples of such technologies, including heat pumps.
The next government should also support the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard, which has been created by the industry, for the industry, and sets out net-zero carbon requirements for all major building types, based on a 1.5°C trajectory.
By providing clarity across these areas, we can achieve sustainable growth in demand for low carbon technologies, including heat pumps. The next government has a clear opportunity to be bold in its policymaking; it must not miss that opportunity.
About Mitsubishi Electric
Mitsubishi Electric has led the way in the UK heat pump market for over a decade and is one of the first manufacturers to include embodied carbon data for its products. The company manufacturers heat pumps in Scotland and has developed what we believe is the most comprehensive range for almost any building in the country. For further information visit:
We believe that heat pumps can be at the heart of the drive to a renewable, electric economy and help spur the creation of green careers for today’s and tomorrow’s engineers.
