UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association (UKIFDA) whose members supply not only heating oil for homes and businesses but also fuel for agriculture, construction, road transport, marine fuels and importantly fuel for back-up generators for hospitals, schools, care homes and data centres across the UK would like to congratulate Boris Johnson on being elected Prime Minister.
UKIFDA Chief Executive Guy Pulham comments: “We are looking forward to working with the Prime Minister and the Government in developing a pathway for off grid heating in rural communities to help to achieve ambitions for a net-zero carbon economy.
“In order to achieve this though, we will be emphasising to the Government that we must not put rural communities at a disadvantage. Our supply chain, for domestic liquid fuels (used for home heating and hot water) accepts the urgent need to decarbonise heating. Liquid fuel, more specifically a bio product, can be part of the solution to achieve net zero. We believe large scale electrification through the use of heat pumps is not the answer and Government need to look at alternatives as this is not feasible, due to high installation and running costs of installing heat pumps, for off grid homeowners.
“Recognising fuel poverty levels in the UK are already too high, we believe that different solutions will suit different homes and budgets. We will be lobbying the new Government to implement policy that should be focussed on ensuring that ‘heating systems are appropriate to properties heating requirements’ while clearly demonstrating both carbon abatements and strong particle emission controls. Many UK oil-heated homes were built pre 1919 which makes them more costly to effectively retrofit and therefore more difficult to efficiently convert to other technologies. Because of this, we believe the widespread use of heat pumps is not the only solution this Government should be focusing on.
“We have developed a strategy in partnership with other trade associations in our supply chain that meets the needs of the off-grid consumer as well as the urgent need to address climate change. Our strategy is a transition that does not disadvantage the consumer with wholesale costly changes to their property and is a stepped approach toward a transition to 100% biofuel to replace heating oil in 1.5m homes across the UK.
“In order to achieve this though, we want the new Government to implement policies that will help the forgotten rural fuel poor whilst also cutting carbon emissions. In the Conservative party manifesto, they said their first Budget will prioritise the environment: investing in R&D and decarbonisation schemes and we will be lobbying the Government to ensure biofuels is part of the decarbonisation landscape.
“We believe our strategy is a practical, affordable and effective solution which addresses key Government requirements: to keep energy bills low; cost effectively reduce carbon emissions; ensure a secure, resilient energy supply; bring economic benefits and avoid unreasonable upfront costs for consumers. It is vital that the right solutions are implemented in the right homes to achieve the lowest cost per tonne of carbon saving ratio.”
13th December 2019
