Energy Department Consultation on HVO

[Gone West]

The previous government had arranged for a consultation on allowing the use of HVO as a heating fuel. As there had not been any progress on the matter I contacted my MP and the following is his reply. It would seem that HVO is not going to be considered as a heating fuel by the current government.

 

Dear Peter,

I have now had a response from the Minster for Energy Consumers, Dr Miatta Fahnbulleh MP and I have copied it here for your information: 


Thank you for our correspondence regarding the use of renewable liquid fuels in heating. I was pleased to read that your constituents are looking at ways to reduce their carbon emissions.
Decarbonising the way we heat our buildings, including those off the gas grid, is essential for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and combatting climate change. Our ambitious Warm Homes Plan will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out solar and heat pumps.

For most off-grid properties, transitioning to clean heat will involve installing a heat pump as these are cost-effective, proven technologies. With grants of £7,500 available through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), and with a growing number of competitive heat pump offers being made available to consumers an increasing number of off-grid households are finding heat pumps to be an attractive and affordable heating solution. Evidence shows that heat pumps will work well in the majority of off-grid homes. Moreover, modern heat pumps, capable of running efficiently at similar temperatures to an existing boiler, can increasingly be used in homes previously considered unsuitable for electrification and without needing to upgrade their fabric or radiators, further simplifying the process and reducing the upfront cost of installing a heat pump. The Government has recently announced additional measures to support consumers with heat pumps installations. This included an extra £30 million for the BUS this financial year, and a near-doubling of budget to £295 million for the next financial year, so that more families can benefit from £7,500 off the cost of a heat pump.

The Government is also reforming air source heat pump permitted development rights in England - including removing the “1-metre rule” - so that many more households can install a heat pump without needing to submit a planning application. However, the Government recognises that heat pumps may not be a feasible option for all properties. And we are committed to ensuring that there is the right solution for every household. We have therefore commissioned research to collect data on the costs of different approaches to decarbonising the most complex housing archetypes, including the use of renewable liquid fuels, and we expect to receive results from that research in 2025. We recognise that renewable liquid fuels, like hydrotreated vegetable oil and renewable liquefied petroleum gas, could play a limited role in decarbonising heat off the gas grid. As your constituents mentioned, the previous Government took powers in the Energy Act to bring in a Renewable Liquid Heating Fuel Obligation.

However, Departmental analysis and other studies have demonstrated that sustainable biomass is a limited resource. We therefore expect to prioritise the use of renewable liquid fuels in sectors like aviation, and in the small number of homes that are not readily suitable for electrification, as these have fewest options to decarbonise through alternative low carbon technologies.

Critically, we need to ensure that alternative solutions are cost effective for consumers. The cost of using renewable liquid fuels for heat is currently very high – especially compared to other heating solutions like kerosene or a heat pump. We are therefore keeping the evidence under review to ensure alternative heating solutions provide the best possible deal for consumers.

Thank you again for writing and bringing this matter to my attention. 

 

Kind Regards, 

Ben

Ben Maguire MP
Member of Parliament, North Cornwall
ES Livrel Weriniethor a-barth Kernow Gledh

 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Gone West said:

For most off-grid properties, transitioning to clean heat will involve installing a heat pump as these are cost-effective, proven technologies

Are they talking about just off the natural gas grid?

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, Gone West said:

would seem that HVO is not going to be considered as a heating fuel

There are several troubles with HVO.

 

Basically it should be made from used (and only used) vegetable and animal fats/oils. Sometimes virgin oils and diesel make their way into the mix.

 

The transport industry (roads and marine) are using it as is industry, all from a defined quantity of used oil world wide. Several years ago the EU (incl UK) apparently imported many more million tonnes of used oil stocks, than was actually available. Where did this come from - no-one knows. But it was sold as hvo.

 

Most stock of used oil is from Malaysia, all of which is palm oil from deforestation and is a mono crop, not good for biodiversity.

 

The process for making hvo is very energy intensive.

 

Combustion produces all the same pollutants and PM 2.5 etc...as diesel, but credit is taken for CO2, even though the CO2 is sucked up in Malaysia and when burnt in Europe is just more CO2 dumped into this part of the world 

 

So a lot of green wash, from a defined amount of material worldwide, that everyone wants to take credit for.

 

It's available to buy if you want, I wouldn't bother.

[SteamyTea]

19 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Most stock of used oil is from Malaysia, all of which is palm oil from deforestation and is a mono crop, not good for biodiversity.

While this is true, palm oil production is better than say rape seed oil as it uses less land.

PV is even better still from land usage.

 

I have a problem in the way we 'measure' the environmental credentials of land usage, with the British public being on of the worse groups.

In the UK we pretend that we want to preserve nature and the environment, but what we often talk about is preserving industrial farming.  There is very little true, untouched land in the UK, and what there is, is untouched for a reason, generally it is useless.

[Gone West]

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Are they talking about just off the natural gas grid?

I assumed so.

[Gone West]

2 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Most stock of used oil is from Malaysia, all of which is palm oil from deforestation and is a mono crop, not good for biodiversity.

 The EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) aims to ban all palm oil in biofuels in stages by 2030.

[Gone West]

2 hours ago, JohnMo said:

It's available to buy if you want, I wouldn't bother.

It's not available to buy as a domestic heating fuel, hence the government consultation.

[JohnMo]

2 minutes ago, Gone West said:

biofuels

You have to be very careful talking biofuel, they can very different things.

 

Biodiesel can be made virgin oil stocks, HVO isn't or shouldn't be. The properties of Biodiesel and HVO are also very different.

[JohnMo]

2 minutes ago, Gone West said:

not available to buy as a domestic heating fuel

HVO is almost identical to diesel, except it can ignite more easily. Believe heating oil is just diesel with less duty. You can get if you really want it, but it may cost you more.

[Gone West]

Just now, JohnMo said:

HVO is almost identical to diesel, except it can ignite more easily. Believe heating oil is just diesel with less duty. You can get if you really want it, but it may cost you more.

HVO should only be purchased for commercial use. It is currently around 10 to 15% more expensive than heating oil.

[SteamyTea]

7 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Believe heating oil is just diesel

There are different types of diesel, I seem to remember that some is 28 seconds and others are 35 seconds, no idea what it actually means.

 

There was/is a trail going on down here with HVO.

 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/special-features/how-small-cornish-village-leading-9652305

[Gone West]

3 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

There are different types of diesel, I seem to remember that some is 28 seconds and others are 35 seconds, no idea what it actually means.

A dip into Google gives this:-

 

The term ‘28 second oil’ is used as a term to distinguish kerosene’s viscosity, through a specific test of how long it takes 50ml of the oil to drip into a beaker. This also explains how red diesel gets its ‘35-second’ name.

[JohnMo]

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

28 seconds and others are 35 seconds,

Viscosity rating. So basic summer and winter grades. Although a lot now has viscosity additives so a single grade is used.

[SteamyTea]

I did actually know about the Redwood Scale, was just waking up this morning.

[sharpener]

On 28/01/2025 at 08:04, Gone West said:

A dip into Google gives this:-

 

The term ‘28 second oil’ is used as a term to distinguish kerosene’s viscosity, through a specific test of how long it takes 50ml of the oil to drip into a beaker. This also explains how red diesel gets its ‘35-second’ name.

 

Not summer and winter grade, they are different products year-round.

 

28 sec or kerosene is used in most domestic oil boilers. (And paraffin lamps/heaters. Is also basically the same as AVTUR for jet aircraft engines.)

 

35 sec oil or "red diesel" is used in a few boilers (we had a Potterton which did), also farm vehicles which is why it is dyed as it is taxed at only 5% and illegal to use for road vehicles. And previously used for most recreational boat engines though IIRC it is being phased out and they will have to buy (taxed) road fuel diesel in future.

 

On 27/01/2025 at 16:58, Gone West said:

Moreover, modern heat pumps, capable of running efficiently at similar temperatures to an existing boiler, can increasingly be used in homes previously considered unsuitable for electrification and without needing to upgrade their fabric or radiators

 

This is misleading as MCS installers will not quote for flow temps above 45 or 50C at most, so you will in practice be lucky to find one who won't require upgraded radiators (mine by a factor of 1.9x).

 

On 27/01/2025 at 16:58, Gone West said:

This included an extra £30 million for the BUS this financial year, and a near-doubling of budget to £295 million for the next financial year, so that more families can benefit from £7,500 off the cost of a heat pump.

 

£295M will only pay for 40,000 grants though which is a drop in a bucket.

 

 

On 27/01/2025 at 16:58, Gone West said:

We therefore expect to prioritise the use of renewable liquid fuels in sectors like aviation

 

Total BS greenwash and waste of money. The same savings can be made at much less cost by replacing fossil fuels in static applications, road vehicles or (less easy) shipping.

 

 

Edited February 5 by sharpener