Cllr Alex Sobel on Leeds' pioneering H21 project - using Hydrogen to decarbonise gas by 2030

Earlier this year it was announced that Enfield Council was to invest £58m in 'energetik', its own local energy company, set up to fight climate change and fuel poverty and ’revolutionise’ north London’s energy future. But how did this project develop? Cllr Alan Sitkin, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Business writes.

How do you decarbonise heat? It’s a quite intractable problem. Some 47% of final energy consumption goes on heat, between residential heat and industrial and commercial space heating, most of which is supplied by means of gas (it makes up over 80% of the fuel for home heating and hot water) and that is not to about to go away soon.  Only 7% of heat and hot water is electrified. According to the recently-adopted UK Fifth Carbon Budget, by 2030, 13% of heat in homes and about half of business demand should be coming from low carbon sources if we are to meet emissions targets. Although we are doing well on power targets for 2020, on heat we are failing lamentably; and in danger of falling short of 2020 European low carbon heat targets, let alone getting to grips with the Fifth Carbon Budget.