Thursday 4 March 2021

Podcast: Decarbonising heat is difficult… but a Sussex village could hold the key

Decarbonising heat is difficult... but a Sussex village could hold the key.

The village in question is Barcombe, which is where UK Power Networks and Community Energy South are hosting the innovative Communiheat project, alongside local community group Ovesco and Buro Happold.

Together, these organisations aim to accelerate the shift from fossil fuel-based heating to clean electrification, by considering a range of technologies such as air source heat pumps to transition the entire area away from fossil fuels in one go.

Ashita Anand, Innovation Project Lead at UK Power Networks, and Ollie Pendered, CEO of Community Energy South, spoke to future Net Zero about the barriers and opportunities involved, as well as what further action is needed and how other communities can participate and drive behaviour change to reach net zero.

Ashita said: "Fossil fuel-based heating is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and that's contributing to around a third of the emissions, that's why decarbonising heat is actually vital to meeting the UK's net zero by 2050 target."

You can contact UK Power Networks at innovation@ukpowernetworks.co.uk to find out more.