New analysis reveals shocking scale of household gas boiler emissions
The shocking scale of emissions coming from the nation’s gas boilers has been revealed in new analysis from climate charity Possible and social enterprise Scene.
Using government energy statistics, the new findings show that all of the gas boilers in the UK emit more than double the carbon emissions (CO2e) of all of the gas-fired power stations in the UK, while also producing over eight and a half times more harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) gases. The same research also found that boilers in a city the size of Leeds alone would emit the same amount of carbon as a gas-fired power station.
For years gas boilers have been represented as relatively harmless providers of heat and hot water, but this analysis paints a sobering picture of the true scale of their contribution to the UK’s planet heating carbon emissions, as well as highlighting their role in local air pollution in urban areas. Nitrogen oxide gases are known to increase the risk of respiratory illness.
The analysis comes at a time of skyrocketing gas prices, leaving often poorly insulated households reliant on gas boilers for home heating highly vulnerable. The UK has the oldest housing stock in western Europe, and fears continue to grow that 100,000s of households will join the 2.5m already in fuel poverty this winter.
Rates of home insulation installations collapsed by 95% between 2012 and 2019 under successive governments, while the UK sits near the bottom of European countries for heat pump installations. Heat pumps are a low carbon home heating source, powered by electricity, which the Government’s official climate change advisors have identified as a key technology for eliminating carbon emissions from heating. However, the Government is over a year late delivering its plan to enable their roll out, now promised in advance of the upcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Possible is calling for the Government to release a bold plan for supporting households to make the switch to heat pumps as soon as possible, with dedicated additional support for at-risk low income households.
Neil Jones, campaigner at climate charity Possible, said:
“To many of us it will be news that underneath the shiny white veneer of our boilers there lies an undercover polluter. Amidst a frightening gas price crisis, and a decade of opportunity wasted by the Government to insulate our homes, supporting households to begin switching to clean heat pumps has come suddenly into focus. It’s high time the Government finally gave us all the tools we need to modernise our homes, and ensure a safer, cleaner future.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For media enquiries and further information please contact press@wearepossible.org or 07806431577.
For a spreadsheet with the full data, please click HERE.
Max Wakefield, Director of Campaigns at climate charity Possible, is available for comment. Please contact press@wearepossible.org for more information.
Possible is a UK based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. wearepossible.org.
Possible changed its name from 10:10 Climate Action on 10th October 2019.
Scene is a social Enterprise focused on strengthening communities through consultancy, research and the development of low-carbon ICT products. They work across the renewable energy, carbon management, and energy access sectors. scene.community
Other headline figures include:
Boilers generate 329% more energy per year than all UK gas power stations
Boilers produce 226% more CO2e per year than all UK gas power stations
Boilers produce 863% more NOx per year than all UK gas power stations
Bradford is the same as a "small" gas power station (431MW) (Coolkeeragh CCGT)
Birmingham would be a larger power plant (~860 MW) (Severn CCGT)
Average power plant size is ~650MW, equivalent to a population of 320k (e.g. Leeds = 330k)