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No more gas boilers? You must be joking!

Former Community Member
Former Community Member

The media seems to be awash today with the announcement that the government HOPE to have no more new gas boilers sold after 2035. The devil of course is in the details….

At the moment I am working on a project at the HQ of a local parts supplier to do away with the existing (quite new) gas boilers and convert the place to VRV AC system. The existing gas loading is about 900kW so if I stick in a VRV system drawing about 300kW that should do. This would add about 400A per phase. Assume every other office block on the estate decides to ‘go green’ and do the same and straight away you are looking at some serious deficiencies in the local power infrastructure. Add in charging electric cars (we already have issues trying to charge 7 electric cars at 4 charge points in this office) and the potential for thousands of homes to all be heated by electric and I foresee a looming catastrophe.

Of course, the obvious solution is to upgrade the local and national grids to futureproof them and bring online more generating capacity but do you see any new power stations being built (apart from Hinkley)? Any new power lines/substations appearing? Or are we going to swap gas heating for electric heating run from gas generation? And what about the existing nuclear stations reaching the end of their lives? Discuss….

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    In May 2021, the RAEng produced a report on electric vehicles. Chapter 10 details load demand on the grid and so on. Figures 19-24 are particularly interesting. The grid as it was then could not cope with large numbers of electric vehicles doing what people did in 2010 with their cars and trucks.

    https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/electric-vehicles

     If we now add building heating to that, then I think Andy is quite right to worry.

    In 2013, the Academy produced a report on GB generating capacity and its margins, in response to a request by The PM's Council for Science and Technology

    https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/gb-electricity-capacity-margin

    (Disclosure: I haven't read it)

    As for hydrogen, Bill Gates has suggested it could be used as a means of electricity storage. I can't see using it as a building energy supply for any except the most well-protected and supervised buildings well away from anything else. It is exceptionally explosive when it meets oxygen. Remember what it did to the reactor buildings at Fukushima Daiichi after the tsunami?  My building has gas central heating and there is no way you could get me to accept hydrogen coming in in any great quantity. That's even before I talk to my insurance company…….

    Mike is surely right that good insulation is part of any solution. However, it is not inexpensive – for my building, I haven't been anywhere near to affording it for 15 years. Roof insulation is relatively cheap and brings you 25% – that is worth it; I've done it and the 25% is real. For the rest, cladding the walls has downsides (condensation build up and mildew. German installations are guaranteed for five years, but five years ain't long) and new windows+frames are not cheap.  

    So we are talking revolutions in electricity supply, in energy for heating, and in energy-efficient building mods. Not a small ask.

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    In May 2021, the RAEng produced a report on electric vehicles. Chapter 10 details load demand on the grid and so on. Figures 19-24 are particularly interesting. The grid as it was then could not cope with large numbers of electric vehicles doing what people did in 2010 with their cars and trucks.

    https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/electric-vehicles

     If we now add building heating to that, then I think Andy is quite right to worry.

    In 2013, the Academy produced a report on GB generating capacity and its margins, in response to a request by The PM's Council for Science and Technology

    https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/gb-electricity-capacity-margin

    (Disclosure: I haven't read it)

    As for hydrogen, Bill Gates has suggested it could be used as a means of electricity storage. I can't see using it as a building energy supply for any except the most well-protected and supervised buildings well away from anything else. It is exceptionally explosive when it meets oxygen. Remember what it did to the reactor buildings at Fukushima Daiichi after the tsunami?  My building has gas central heating and there is no way you could get me to accept hydrogen coming in in any great quantity. That's even before I talk to my insurance company…….

    Mike is surely right that good insulation is part of any solution. However, it is not inexpensive – for my building, I haven't been anywhere near to affording it for 15 years. Roof insulation is relatively cheap and brings you 25% – that is worth it; I've done it and the 25% is real. For the rest, cladding the walls has downsides (condensation build up and mildew. German installations are guaranteed for five years, but five years ain't long) and new windows+frames are not cheap.  

    So we are talking revolutions in electricity supply, in energy for heating, and in energy-efficient building mods. Not a small ask.

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