Reducing the carbon footprint of heating your house.
Heating is an essential part of our daily lives. We rely on it to cook, wash, and maintain comfort at home.
Heat accounts for over a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The problem
By 2050, the UK must nearly completely decarbonize its building stock to meet net zero, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC). In order for the UK to meet its Fourth (2023 to 2027) and Fifth (2028 to 2032) Carbon Budgets, energy efficiency must be addressed immediately.
We need to adopt the most economical and effective solution to heating and hot water in order to achieve net zero by 2050.
Compared to other types of heating, ground source heat pumps have the lowest carbon footprint, the lowest operating costs, and the lowest grid impact. However, air source heat pumps are still far more popular in the UK due to the lower upfront cost.
An EnerPHit deep energy retrofit of a house costs about £1,000 per m2, plus additional costs for doors and windows. To reduce carbon by 80%, it would cost around £70,000 per property.
Heat the Streets, by contrast, will reduce carbon by 70% immediately for about £25,000 per property. The work does not require you to move out or redecorate whilst it is being done.
As more renewable energy sources are added to the National Grid, Heat the Streets homes will continue to save carbon, with all homes reaching Net Zero by 2030.
The solution.
Ground source heat pumps are the most efficient, cheapest to run and the whole life cost of ground source heating is lower than any other technology and the carbon savings are greater. Savings from avoidance of grid upgrade cost could run into the billions.
They do however cost more initially, due to the extra infrastructure required to get that efficient heat source from the ground. Heat the Streets is demonstrating a solution to this barrier to entry, by owning at operating the infrastructure and charging a connection fee Kensa are removing this cost for the end user.
Kensa believe that installing the underground infrastructure for ground source heat pumps a street at a time would enable communities to switch to renewable heating when ready. This would be a gradual transition, as was the case with the original gas grid rollout.
