The heat is on

This astonishing statistic highlights the need for heat to be given serious consideration in energy policy in particular waste heat from power stations if the UK is even to come close to reaching the target of a 60% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050.

It is 30 years since the heat sector was last evaluated by the government. At the time Lord Marshall advocated piping waste heat from the then mostly coal-fired power stations and establishment of a Heat Board. The flaw in this plan was that it was set up as a private sector initiative in competition with other utilities, so the firms most capable of delivering it were those most likely to lose business from its success. Marshall warned this would be a “recipe for indefinite delay”, and he was right.

Historically, the UK has opted for economies of scale by building huge power stations next to sources of fuel such as coal mines. As a result the stations are far from the conurbations needing heat. One way of ensuring heat is available where it’s needed is to decentralise power generation by installing local combined heat plants (feature page 38). This would generate electricity to feed into the grid, and the inner-city location of these CHP plants would mean waste heat could be used effectively.

The recent Energy White Paper made reference to heat and now the government’s call for evidence on renewable heat sources is the first clear sign that it is starting to understand that heat is at least as important as electricity in the UK’s energy mix.

It is encouraging that, in his call for evidence, energy minister Malcolm Wicks made the connection that the amount of heat discarded by power stations is roughly equivalent to the amount householders need to keep warm. The government must resist lobbying from the gas and electricity utilities that stand to lose considerable market share from initiatives such as district heating. It must use this opportunity to consider all options for reusing surplus heat, and then it must act on the evidence.

Andy Pearson