Government announce a ban on fossil fuels in new builds by 2025
As part of the Spring Statement in March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond has announced a New Future Homes Standard, which will help deliver the Prime Ministers pledge of halving the energy use of new build properties by 2030.
He said, “To help ensure energy bills are low and homes are better for the environment, the government will introduce a Future Homes Standard by 2025, so that new build homes are future proofed with low carbon heating and world leading levels of energy efficiency.”
The objective of the impact on new build homebuilding will be that Fossil Fuel heating systems will no longer be used in new homes from 2025.
He also added that “making all homes and buildings energy efficient, affordable and zero carbon within the next two decades was needed to address the climate crisis”
The Future Homes Standard has been welcomed within the industry, as a move toward high levels of energy efficiency in homes, however many industry specialists, feel there is no time to be lost in switching the installations from fossil fuels to low carbon heating and waiting until 2025 is losing valuable time and impact on reducing carbon emissions.
Phil Hurley, Managing Director of NIBE has recently said “I’ve spoken before about our leaky homes and dependency on fossil fuels, hopeful for a low-carbon future that takes advantage of proven technology that will decarbonise the supply of heat. Our homes are needlessly wasteful, making them expensive to heat with higher bills that encourage fuel poverty and ill health.
However, there is some light. The Committee on Climate Change have recommended that by 2025 all new homes should have ultra-high levels of energy efficiency alongside appropriate ventilation, be fitted with low carbon heat such as heat pumps and not be connected to the gas grid. I completely agree and have been saying for some time that new homes should be future-proofed, with heat pumps being the ideal low carbon solution, avoiding expensive retrofits down the line and reducing emissions as a direct result”
