Sorry, a bit long. It's a good read though.
I found this PDF on
www.decc.gov.uk
"The Future of Heating:A strategic framework for low carbon heat in the UK" March 2012
http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/1...-framework.pdf
From the above:
And, while natural gas will supply the majority of our heat demand well into the 2020s, cutting emissions from buildings and industry means taking the carbon out of heat in the longer term, managing demand through energy and resource efficiency, and replacing fossil fuels with low carbon alternatives.
This does not need to be a threat.We can see this as a great opportunity for the UK; an opportunity to diversify our sources of heat, make our processes more efficient and our companies more competitive, to develop our cities and towns in sustainable ways that prepare us for a low carbon future, and to bring renewable heat into the mainstream alongside gas boilers, a market which currently sees around 1.6 million new boilers put into homes every year.
From Chapter 2: Transforming Building-Level Heating
• In the majority of UK homes and businesses, heating spaces and water means burning gas in a boiler. For some, it means burning oil, or using electric heaters. Low carbon heating offers cleaner and often more efficient alternatives which will prepare our homes and businesses for the future with sustainable and secure supplies of heat.
• While gas will supply the majority of our heat for many years to come, the change to low carbon is already beginning. Many new homes is now fitted with a heat pump, able to operate three to four times more efficiently than a gas boiler, and businesses are increasingly using heat pumps as a convenient way to both heat and cool their buildings.
• We need to start building the market for low carbon and renewable heat now, both to achieve our goal of supplying 15% of UK energy from renewables by 2020 and to deliver affordable, efficient low carbon heat in the future.
Where we need to be
2.1 By 2050, we need to remove all direct greenhouse gas emissions from heating our buildings.This is exceedingly challenging, and means that any heat generated at building level must be set on a low carbon footing by replacing fossil fuel-based heating technologies within individual buildings, such as natural gas or oil fired boilers, with low carbon alternatives.
2.2 Before we do this, maximising the efficiency of our gas boilers will help realise cost and carbon savings in the short and medium term.
Carbon Plan Trajectory
2.3 By 2020, condensing boilers are expected to have reached around 75% market penetration. Condensing boilers already save consumers over £1 billion a year; further deployment by 2020 could save an additional £1.3 billion.
Hydrogen Storage
2.45 As hydrogen can be generated at the point of use via the electrolysis of water, hydrogen could be produced at building level, and stored until needed during peaks in demand. Stored hydrogen could then be combusted in a modified gas boiler, or converted back into electricity using a
fuel cell to run electric heating systems and electrical appliances.
A Hydrogen Grid?
2.47 It may also be possible to repurpose the existing low-pressure gas distribution grid to transport hydrogen at low pressures, which could be used in modified gas boilers and hobs, and in building-level fuel cells.
5.6 Also this decade, the replacement of most of the remaining 13 million non-condensing gas boilers with high-efficiency condensing boilers will improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
Looks like the condensing gas boilers are not going anywhere yet!
