Can heat networks win the war on climate change?

With an ambitious target of sourcing half our energy from renewables by 2030, it’s all hands to the pumps.

Scots households and businesses spend £2.6 billion per year on heating and cooling.
Approximately 30% of Scottish carbon emissions are attributable to supplying hot water to, and heating buildings.

But change is afoot.

At a Scottish Renewables breakfast event hosted by TLT last week we heard the current Scottish Government consultations on heat being described as ‘game-changing’.

Could more district heating – where networks of pipes fuelled with hot water from a central boiler supply heat to homes and businesses in a town or city – help Scotland meet its climate change targets?

District heating is commonplace in the rest of the world.

Copenhagen’s system supplies 97% of the city with clean, reliable and affordable heating.

In the UK, the comparable figure is around 2%.

Nearly 70% of the population of Scotland live in settlements of 10,000 or more people – many of which are suitable for district heating development.

Some action is being taken and there are grounds for hope.

The Scottish Government has an ambition that 1.5TWh of Scotland’s heat demand will be delivered by district or communal heating, and to have 40,000 homes connected, by 2020.

Scotland’s Heat Map shows, in amazing detail, who’s using heat and where, opening our eyes to the district heating potential of our urban areas.

The Heat Network Partnership is working to promote those opportunities, and has a District Heating Opportunity Assessment Tool which can help.

The organisation’s website even has a 7,500-word District Heating Strategy Template which local authorities can use to get the ball rolling.

The current consultations on district heating propose placing a duty on local authorities to create Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies as well as looking at the role of regulation to support development.

With control of planning, and access to large property estates like libraries, schools, leisure centres and offices, local authorities are well placed to help deliver district heating, but their resources are limited and any proposal must recognise this.

Consultant Ron Peddie, speaking at the Scottish Renewables event in Glasgow said:

“I'm hoping that we get ‘change agents’ within local authorities and planning departments who see that district heating is the way to deliver our carbon reductions.
“If we want to get this technology off the ground then we all need to be spokespeople and be evangelical about it. We know it works – we just have to keep telling people.”

Key learnings from the event?

• Pick the most appropriate technology – heat pumps and biomass do the same thing in a different way
• Plan, plan, plan – know what goes where before the shovels hit soil
• Knowledge is power – share yours with those who can influence and improve the development of district heating.

With the right attitude, the right technology and the right plans, district heating can work for Scotland and help meet the ambitious targets contained in the Scottish Government’s draft Energy Strategy, as well as our wider climate change goals.

Blog by Stephanie Clark, Policy Manager