UKLPG urges Government to consider five key recommendations for the successful delivery of off-grid decarbonisation

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is seeking views from industry in support of their Clean Growth Strategy about how best to phase out high carbon fossil fuels (oil and coal) during the next decade, as well as evidence on which technologies and innovation can support this transition.

The UKLPG response to the Call for Evidence highlights the significant role that LPG already plays in delivering reliable low carbon heating to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses that are located off the gas grid. Beyond this, LPG can deliver immediate carbon savings of 1,054,088 tonnes of CO2 per year from the 850,000 homes currently using oil for their heating.

To support the delivery of this carbon reduction, UKLPG’s response urges BEIS to consider five key recommendations:

• Set an end date for the burning of high carbon fossil fuels in off-grid homes and businesses, to give a clear message to all stakeholders in the heating sector about how they must evolve.
• Implement an oil tank scrappage scheme, which would help to address the physical barrier to customers switching from heating oil and alleviate customer reluctance due to owned oil assets. An official Government-backed scheme would also enable heating engineers and installers to actively promote alternative heating systems to consumers.
• Support off-grid rural businesses with clear messaging and fair policies that enable them to fulfil their business operations within the clean growth agenda.
• Engage with heating engineers and installers to strengthen clear messaging to consumers. Successful policy implementation will hinge on installers being able to effectively convey alternative heating solutions to distress purchase customers living off-grid currently using high carbon fuels.
• Conduct an EPC review to ensure that the future energy objectives are successfully leveraged. For off-grid decarbonisation to be achieved the mechanisms by which improvement standards are driven must be fair and accurate. EPCs currently disproportionately reflect fuel costs rather than efficiency or carbon content.

Beyond the immediate carbon savings attainable through instant switches from coal and oil to LPG, the UKLPG response also outlines how LPG can deliver future off-grid heating in line with the 2032 and 2050 carbon budgets, through high efficiency gas powered technologies including hybrid systems and gas-driven heat pumps, as well as the incremental deployment of bioLPG into the supply chain.

UKLPG’s public affairs manager Emily Wilson-Gavin said: “The LPG industry is poised to support BEIS with its off-grid decarbonisation objectives with simple low-cost solutions that deliver the reduction of carbon and other harmful pollutant emissions immediately. Innovative gas technologies and the deployment of bioLPG, both of which are already on the market, further demonstrate that the industry is committed to a growth strategy which can support the delivery of the 2050 targets.”

A full copy of the UKLPG submission can be found here.