'The UK will not meet its climate change targets without a revolution in home heating, a think tank says.'
For the first time since 1882, renewable energy sources have provided more electricity to UK homes and businesses than fossil fuels.
But with heating making up 40% of the UK’s energy consumption and 85% of UK households being heated using fossil fuel-based natural gas, we still face a big challenge when it comes to heating our homes and meeting the UK’s fossil fuel targets.
14% of UK greenhouse gases come from our homes, a similar level to emissions from cars and it's estimated that between 80-90% of UK homes are currently connected to the gas grid.
Advising the UK government on tackling the climate crisis, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has proposed that by 2025 no new homes should be connected to the gas grid. But action must also be taken is existing homes and more than 20,000 homes a week must switch to low-carbon heating between 2025 and 2050 if we are to meet a target of an 80% reduction in emissions.