Heat decarbonisation

There are a number of options available to decarbonise heat, and at Ricardo we have developed a Heat Decarbonisation Hierarchy as a framework to outline the low carbon alternatives that we can help you to realise (see across)

As with the use of any resource, the focus should be first on reducing how much is used. In the case of heat, opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of buildings should be a priority, ensuring future low carbon heating is designed to match reduced loads. For industrial heat users, processes should be optimised and opportunities for waste heat recovery explored, with cost effective solutions being implemented first.  

Following on from this, the next step is to make the transition from fossil-fuel based heating to a low carbon alternative – such as biomass, solar, heat pumps, or connection to low carbon heat networks.  

For many industrial heat users, who require higher temperatures, heat pumps are less likely to be a feasible option, and therefore other opportunities such as fuel switching will need to be explored, for example the use of biofuels or hydrogen as alternative to fossil fuels.

Finally, for the most energy intensive and hard to abate sites which include high temperature processes within manufacturing, the opportunity to decarbonise lies in Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage, including Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), which has the potential for negative emissions.