Electric-ready homes could stop default swaps to gas
More needs to be done to prepare households to upgrade to electric appliances and stop similar gas exchanges by default when those systems fail, according to an energy researcher.
Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, says homeowners are rarely in the headspace to deal with the extra hassle of dealing with cold homes and cold showers when gas boilers fail.
While the failure of a gas hot water system or an internal combustion engine vehicle may be an economically opportune moment to switch to an electric alternative, reality often prevents this.
“You call the plumber and say, ‘I’m thinking of getting a heat pump,’ and they say, ‘I’m going to have to come out and measure the heat loss,'” Mr. Liebreich said Wednesday at the Energy Efficiency Council’s national conference.
“But I’m cold and the kids haven’t showered, blah blah blah, forget it, we’ll put on another boiler.”
In the UK, where EcoPragma Capital is managing partner, it is advocating policy interventions, potentially even small incentive payments, to encourage households to “prime the heat pump”.
“They know which heat pump to buy, they know which supplier to use, they have a plan,” he suggested.
“They pull the plan out of the drawer and execute it.”
Electrifying appliances, cars and machines and powering them with renewable energy sources is at the heart of worldwide emissions reduction targets.
The recent oil shock caused by conflict in the Middle East is seen by Mr Liebreich as an opportunity to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and take more action on clean energy, electrification and climate resilience.
Policymakers should focus on reducing barriers to commercially competitive energy upgrades under the “electrification ladder.”
For aviation and other industries where the technology is in its infancy and still expensive, policy intervention should be limited to grants, trials and research.
“The worst thing you can do is try to launch something prematurely because you are imposing costs on people and businesses who have no tolerance for costs,” he said.
“I’m not saying walk away from them, I’m just saying understand what is business and act accordingly in the policy environment.”
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