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Government’s ‘central heating for cities’ scheme to bring energy bills down

29th June 2016 Print

£320 million will be invested over the next five years in schemes across the country’s towns and cities to take low carbon heat and supply it to keep homes and businesses warm.

The Government is consulting on how best to deploy £320 million allocated in the Spending Review for investment in heat networks. Dubbed ‘central heating for cities’, heat networks are already used widely across Scandinavian cities to keep homes warm in winter. And with potential to reduce heating costs by more than 30% for some households, this investment is exciting news for the country’s towns and cities.

Heat can be taken from a range of sources including large heat pumps, combined heat and power plants and deep geothermal plants, which take heat from underground rocks miles below the surface of the earth. It is then pumped around homes and businesses which is great for bringing down the cost of energy bills and it also helps to reduce carbon emissions.

We also waste lots of heat, pumping it out into the air from our waste incinerator plants, factories and offices. But all this is about to change, with the help of a network of pipes that can catch this heat and pump it around the homes and businesses nearby to provide warmth when they need it.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change said: “This is an important next step in developing more home-grown energy, which is a vital part of our plan to ensure long-term energy security and affordable energy for our families and businesses.

“The funding we’re consulting on today will enable these schemes to provide affordable low carbon energy to thousands of homes and businesses across Britain’s towns and cities.”