Climate change action plan 2021-23

PRIORITY ACTION AREA 3
- HEATING EXISTING BUILDINGS
AND NEW BUILDINGS
THE ISSUE
The burning of gas and
other fuels for heat
contributed 38% of
Northumberland’s positive
emissions in 2018.
Decarbonising heat requires
energy efficient buildings
together with new
technologies to replace
fossil fuels as our primary
heat source.
THE COST
Projects set out in this
section will cost around
£12m. The majority of this
will come through
government grant funding.
In addition, individual
residents will bear some
cost of the move to
renewable heat, supported
by available grants.
THE BENEFITS
The carbon reduction
potential of projects set out
in this section is around
4.5 ktCO 2
.
It is estimated that around
88 jobs will be created or
supported through the
delivery of these projects.
Air quality will also be
improved, leading to better
public health and fuel
poverty will be reduced.
Heating our homes and businesses is one of the main
contributors to carbon emissions in Northumberland.
The burning of gas and other fuels for heat contributed
38% of Northumberland’s positive emissions in 2018.
Heat can be split across domestic and commercial,
together with gas and other fuels, as shown in Figure 9.
This category of emissions represents a significant
proportion of the 709 ktCO 2
it is estimated that the
county needs to cut in order to meet its net zero
ambition.
Kilotonnes CO 2
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2018 CO 2
Emissions from Heat
Domestic Gas Commercial Gas Domestic
Other Fuels
Figure 9 - CO 2
emissions from heat in 2018 by source
Commercial
Other Fuels
Decarbonising heat presents one of the most
significant challenges to lowering carbon emissions
in the county. The fundamental challenge is twofold;
firstly, our housing and property stock includes
several archetypes that are thermally inefficient and
difficult to insulate, such as single skin stone-built
properties and secondly the relative cost of fossil fuel
heating alternatives makes renewable heating less
financially attractive to the end user, particularly those
currently using gas as their primary heat source.
The challenge of reducing emissions from heat cannot
be overstated and will not be accomplished through
technological advancement alone. It requires support
from national government in terms of legislation and
fiscal policy along with local action to drive a full culture
shift across the diverse breadth of Northumberland’s
residents and businesses. This will need significant
communication and engagement across our
communities for the importance and impact of this
shift to be understood and fully embraced.
To decarbonise there are two key technological aspects
to be implemented, and they must be implemented
together; insulation to improve the thermal efficiency
of the building stock and low carbon renewable heat.
Climate Change Action Plan 2021-23 25