So the latest news is a Committee on Climate Change (Who are they?) is suggesting that from 2025 at the latest, no new homes built should be connected to the gas grid, is this the correct thing to do?

As an installer of gas boilers this does not worry me, as I have moved into other markets already, but with the suggestion of hydrogen possibly been a new fuel instead of natural gas, is this the best way forward for energy, shouldn’t we look at all options first, this I find is the problem, the UK always seem to react to knee jerk reactions and this just leads to failure, we were told years ago that Carbon Neutral homes would be implemented from 2016, never happened, will the same happen with this idea, this important issue needs real planning, discussion and thought and not by some closed door group who know nothing of the industries that will be effected, we need a 10 year plan, start slowly, working with technology already available, monitor the performance, start training designers, architects, consultants and installers how to correctly implement technologies into properties, not just come out with a random statement and then expect it to magically work.

Lets start at the most important point, insulation, Building Regulations need to be improved to make insulation levels much higher than they currently are, its not difficult to understand that keeping the heat in is the sensible solution, by improving insulation you lower the heat input required to heat the property, as the less heat lost, the less heat needs to be replaced, its not rocket science, any heating system in new build, whether its gas or renewables, should be designed to run at 50 degrees C maximum, lower if possible, there is no need for any heating system to run at high temperature these days, if correct heat loss calculations have been carried out for each room, then a suitable heat emitter can be specified to meet the heat loss of that room at 50 degrees C, again not difficult to do, but it does mean rads will be larger than for higher temperature or triple panel rads would be needed, but often the home owner is not prepared to have radiators sized to run at low temperature, so they refuse, what are we supposed to do

To me we need to reduce running costs of heating systems, fuel poverty is rising and this needs to be addressed, this is what people are more concerned with, how much they pay, but Government and certain groups seem to think people are more concerned with their carbon footprint, well they are not.

In my opinion if proper discussion, training, design and regulation change are put in place first before jumping to not connect new build homes to the gas grid, it could work well, but I fear as usual it will be badly managed, no training and like other ideas before this one, will fail miserably.

I personally am a fan of heat pumps, but its important that the system is designed and installed correctly, if this no gas to new builds is forced in quickly without proper preparation, I see big problems ahead

What do you think