The announcement represents the first stage in a 10-point plan for a "green industrial revolution" from the government, aimed at speeding up progress towards net zero emissions by 2050. The Prime Minister's plan to get there will mobilise £12bn of government investment, and potentially three times as much from the private sector, to create and support up to 250,000 green jobs and "to make the country cleaner, greener and more beautiful."
This marks the beginning of the UK's path to net zero, with further plans to reduce emissions whilst creating jobs to follow over the next year in the run-up to the international COP26 climate summit in Glasgow next year.
"This landmark announcement signals the end of the road for polluting cars and vans and a historic turning point on climate action," Greenpeace said.
"Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle - the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands," according to the Prime Minister.
The ten points, which are built around the UK's strengths, are:
1. Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.
2. Hydrogen: Working with the industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
3. Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.
4. Electric vehicles: Backing our world-leading car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.
5. Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.
6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.
7. Homes and public buildings: Making our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
8. Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.
9. Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, whilst creating and retaining thousands of jobs.
10. Innovation and finance: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.
Now is the perfect time for organisations to give back to society and pay it forward to future generations by seizing the opportunities of a green recovery.
Focused on the design, installation, maintenance and monitoring of renewable and energy-efficient systems, Ecolution has been contributing and continuously encouraging the transition to a renewable and sustainable future.
Kevin Knapp (left) and Andrew Knapp (right), Ecolution Group founders with their electric vehicles. The company has 8 electric vehicle charging points installed on its premises.
#JointheEcolution green energy revolution started 21 years ago, and it is all about joined-up thinking to ensure we have power for our homes, our cars and businesses. Ecolution is a fully accredited installer with Trust Mark, MCS, BPEC and OLEV certificates and recently a supplier on the Crown Commercial Service's HELGA framework.
LOW CARBON HEATING SOLUTIONS
With the government's new plan and incentives, we can all see why now would be a good time to make the switch, and we are not short on options. Low carbon heating solutions come in many different forms we just have to make the right decision on what would work best for our homes or businesses.
Under the new plan, new-build homes will need to be heated without gas from 2023, two years earlier than previously announced.
Another excellent news came on the Green Homes Grant for homeowners looking to take advantage of the scheme. Households will now have until 31 March 2022 to get improvement works completed. This bridges the gap to the Clean Heat Grant and aligns with the end of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
Air source heat pumps are one of the low carbon heating solutions that is part of the primary measures of the Green Homes Grant scheme as well as ground source heat pumps, solar thermal water heating and biomass.
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air in the same way that a fridge extracts heat from inside a property. The heat from the air is absorbed into a fluid, this fluid then passes through a compressor which increases the temperature transferring this into heating or hot water which is then used in radiators, underfloor heating, warm air convectors and general hot water supply for your home.
Ground source heat pumps are another energy-efficient technology alternative. They absorb heat from the ground into a fluid inside the loops of pipes buried in the garden. This fluid passes through a compressor which increases the temperature which can then be used to heat radiators, underfloor heating, warm heating systems and hot water in your property.
Biomass produces electricity and heating for your property by burning wood pellets, chips or logs to power your central heating and hot water. The way the system works is that water is heated to a high temperature under pressure to produce steam, which then powers the turbine connected to the generator whilst the steam then heats the water to then be distributed around the property.
Solar Hot Water Systems, also known as Solar Thermal Systems, use solar panels called collectors which are fitted to your roof. These collect heat from the sun and use it to heat your water which is then stored in a hot water cylinder.
There's no doubt that this is the perfect time to make the switch to renewable energy sources and decarbonise or upgrade our heating system. To make this work and to continue the move to a sustainable future, every part of society needs to be involved in finding a solution to combat climate change.