Are gas boilers the new diesel cars?
I need to buy a new car next year. The Brussels region Low
Emissions Zone (LEZ) means that my rather battered and polluting diesel 2008
Renault Clio is no longer welcome on its streets. The logic behind restricting
the most polluting vehicles is beyond question. The more than 250 cities that have implemented
Low Emissions Zones have cut NO2 emissions by up to 32% and saved countless
lives. Those numbers will continue to grow as the zones become more
restrictive. What’s more, LEZs are popular with Europeans as two-thirds of people approve of them.
Can LEZs also work for
heating? Responsible for 40% of Europe’s energy consumption
Cities like Hamburg and Vienna
are already starting down a similar path on heating, responsible for about 40%
of Europe’s energy consumption. Hamburg is banning oil heating while Energy
Cities member Vienna is leading the charge on Positive Energy Districts.
I will likely buy a second-hand electric car for about €10,000 – €15,000. That’s about the same cost as installing a heat pump to replace by gas boiler. Jan Rosenow, from the Regulatory Assistance Project, calculated that replacing a perfectly good gas boiler with a heat pump reduces carbon emissions after just 1.5 years and over a 20 year lifespan a heat pump has just “4% of the operational carbon emissions from fuel use.”
All-heat, no flame – gas-free Europe by 2050
One of the main facilitators of the LEZs has been national
deadlines for phasing out petrol and diesel cars. National legislation gives a
clear direction of travel and means that the city-based LEZs are simply
achieving the same goal on a faster timeline (while allowing plenty of time for
the market and citizens to anticipate and adapt).
In the Netherlands they have a clear deadline for getting out
of gas by 2050. According to our Dutch members this has greatly helped, and
slightly complicated, the conversation with their citizens. Gone are the
discussions about simply trying to make current systems more efficient and in
their place is a clean slate of new and transformative options. But in some
cases leaders now face questions about why there aren’t other countries, and the
EU overall, taking the same measures. Despite this the Netherlands are
successfully building the impressive, and aptly named, XXL district heating network. Similar clear deadlines for getting out of gas at a Member State
or European level would give the political cover necessary for cities to take
more ambitious plans for heating Low Emissions Zones.
Heating LEZs and the Renovation Wave –
a warm embrace
Heating LEZs and the Renovation Wave
are complementary. Fitting a heat pump or building a district heating network
for drafty and under-insulated homes is not resource efficient. With a neighbourhood
approach to the Renovation Wave property owners can get the support they
need to upgrade their buildings and then make the switch to a heat pump or
other low-carbon heating options. The virtuous circle here is that the
Renovation Wave should also include the expansion of community energy
programmes to power heat pumps with local green energy and make a significant
local socio-economic contribution in addition to driving emissions down further
still.
The age of diesel and petrol cars is
ending. It’s time to do the same for fossil fuel heating.
The post Are gas boilers the new diesel cars? appeared first on Energy Cities.
Fuente: ENERGY CITIES
Enlace a la noticia: Are gas boilers the new diesel cars?
