The Managing Director of one of the UK’s leading providers of home services is calling on the Government to explore the retrofitting of alternative energy systems in older buildings and premises throughout the country to help reach its carbon footprint targets.
Kevin Brown, Group Managing Director of Houghton le Spring-based Pacifica Group, has contributed to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s ‘A Future Framework for Heat in Buildings’ consultation to provide evidence on and argue the case for cleaner energy systems, such as Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP).
Pacifica Group’s network of engineers carry out installations of energy efficient and renewable heating systems to commercial and domestic applications across the UK. The service range has been further enhanced after Pacifica Group entered into a partnership with Oakes Energy Services at the beginning of 2018.
The company has worked on several projects with private sector businesses and local authorities involving the installation of GSHPs, which have the potential to deliver substantial savings through the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), as well as cutting carbon emissions.
The RHI is a governmental environmental programme, which provides financial incentives to eligible installations of renewable heating systems by businesses, not-for-profits and the public sector. Qualifying schemes receive quarterly payments over 20 years based on the amount of heat generated.
The consultation forms part of the Government’s wider Clean Growth Strategy, led by Claire Perry MP, Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, which aims to phase out the installation of high carbon fossil fuel heating in buildings off the gas grid.
It also sets out the Government’s target of reducing emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050, which ‘implies decarbonising nearly all heat in buildings and most industrial processes.’
In one of the projects cited in Kevin’s evidence, involving a North East council, the installation of GSHP technology is expected to reduce a fire service’s reliance on fossil fuels by halving carbon emissions, while saving the council more than £200,000 in energy cost savings through the Non-Domestic RHI.
Kevin said: “GSHP technology is an innovative form of energy efficiency and should be considered by government as a sustainable energy source that will help to reduce its carbon emissions significantly.
“The Government and large organisations should focus their attention on the older buildings and premises where GSHPs may have been previously deemed unsuitable. We need to embrace this cleaner alternative, which should be rolled out and considered a mainstream, sustainable energy source.”
Kevin added: “GSHPs have the potential to make a difference to the Government’s bold aims set out in the Clean Growth Strategy and, crucially, the wider environment and the UK’s carbon footprint.”
Pacifica Group is one of the UK’s largest providers of home services, including home appliance, gas heating, inspection repair and replacement services, as well as product warranty. It employs nearly 500 staff and handles more than 230,000 completed service calls each year.