Green electric heating

Government figures released in 2018 show that electric heating is better for the environment than gas.

This revelation is due to investments in renewable energy, plus a reduced reliance on coal-fired power stations. Another big influence is a re-think on how carbon emissions for new houses are measured.

There has been a huge increase in the installation of wind and solar farms, leading to greener energy in the UK. In fact, average CO2 from the UK’s electricity grid has halved in six years. This means the carbon footprint of electric-based heating is more favourable than other methods like gas.

In comparison, gas is a ‘fossil’ fuel, formed from the remnants of living matter from millions of years ago. While it is the cleanest of the fossil fuels, it’s still the UK’s biggest source of greenhouse gases.

Gas systems produce damaging carbon emissions. With climate targets increasing, gas could become obsolete in a matter of years.

Electric heating is clean and respectful to the environment. It does not emit polluting gases or use heavy metals.

SAP (’Standard Assessment Procedure’) is the calculation used to work out the emission rate of a new house, it’s predicted energy-efficiency and predicted fuel costs.

The government is set to update SAP, predicted for some point in 2019. This new version (‘SAP 10’) will change the perspective on electric heating, especially in the eyes of home builders, property developers, and landlords.

The current SAP assumes that electricity produces 2.4 times the carbon emissions of mains gas. SAP 10 will update this figure to reflect that electricity is 55% cleaner than before. This change is due to the increased use of wind and solar farms by the UK energy grid. Once SAP 10 is official, homes heated by electric systems will produce virtually the same CO2 emissions as gas. With electric heating systems being much cheaper and faster to install, there will be a strong move towards electric heating in new homes.

The Government has already announced that gas boilers will be banned from new build homes in 2025 although gas hobs will be allowed.