Decc in talks to ‘hugely cut carbon emissions overnight’

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) called a high level summit with industry representatives this week, to explore plans to “hugely cut carbon emissions overnight” by replacing LPG with biopropane in homes that are off the gas grid.

Mike Foster, chief executive of Energy and Utilities Alliance, told Utility Week the meeting was “very positive”. The EUA shared details of a recent report, in which it looked at the cost savings of biopropane and suggested that supporting the incremental introduction of the fuel would reduce carbon emissions from residential LPG use to just 17 per cent of current levels.

The group said its analysis also demonstrates that biopropane could reduce carbon at approximately 40 per cent of the cost to government of the current RHI.

Foster said: “The main benefit about this is that it could be implemented with very little fuss and hugely cut our carbon emissions overnight.

“We are really very positive about this and confident that the meeting yesterday showed its potential. Despite Whitehall rules that mean Decc officials couldn’t tell us too much about what they think on the proposals, I think we could tell that they agreed and could see our point of view.”

The EUA also intends to ask Decc to include biopropane in the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), claiming that an incentive to make the change to biopropane cost neutral could save taxpayers 40 per cent on the current cost of delivering the RHI.

Biopropane is derived from renewable biomass, meaning it can bring about significant reductions in carbon emissions if it is substituted for fossil LPG made from propane.

The molecular structure of pure biopropane is identical to that of conventional pure propane produced from hydrocarbons, meaning it can be easily blended into LPG, or sold in pure form.