James Rooke

Heat pumps will struggle to compete with fossil fuel boilers until we fix electricity pricing. I spoke with the Financial Times for their article out today about this exact issue. My colleagues and I have researched this extensively. Our work on the total cost of ownership and the policies needed to make heat pumps affordable reveals several key findings: 🔹 Cost parity with gas boilers at SCoP of 3.3 in the UK with current grant support 🔹 Shifting levies from electricity bills to general taxation significantly lowers costs 🔹 Moving levies from electricity to gas creates the strongest incentive for switching 🔹 Time-of-use tariffs & heat pump-specific rates further improve affordability 💡 The right policies can make heat pumps cheaper compared to fossil fuel heating systems Paper coauthored by me at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford, Oriel College, Oxford & Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Jake Barnes at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford, Ray Galvin at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Sam O'Mara & Dr Richard Lowes at the University of Exeter and the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). Read our full paper here: https://lnkd.in/efkVbuE9

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Excited to hear that the UK is stepping up clean energy with new CCUS projects. The two CCUS projects, Connah’s Quay Low Carbon Power and Ince Bioenergy with CCS, are entering government-industry talks as part of the HyNet cluster. Together, they aim to capture millions of tonnes of CO2 annually and power 900,000 homes. These projects promise hundreds of skilled jobs and boost the UK’s leadership in clean energy and carbon capture. Officials stress the need for a clear long-term plan to fully unlock CCUS’s potential for net zero. #CCUS #HyNet #CarbonCapture

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Friday long post… Who is in control of flexibility markets…? We’re all agreed that to meet Net Zero we are going to need a lot more flexibility on the electricity system. This flexibility must take place at all levels – internationally, nationally, at distribution level, and within our homes and businesses. Interconnectors and batteries will play a key role in this, but we’ll also need markets and digital solutions. Currently, the UK’s system works on a Merit Order, meaning that the cheapest forms of electricity get used first. But this system was designed for a different era - when most our electricity came from coal and power flowed outwards from the central transmission system to our homes and businesses. Today, electricity flows in both ways and users can be paid to flex their usage. There are several overlapping markets that each player can participate in, flexibility markets at national and local levels, capacity markets, and services such as frequency control. We need to be clearer on who controls what, we need some primacy principles. Transmission operators could lead on frequency services, distribution operators on local constraints, and a market or technology platform could mediate. How this fits with the balancing mechanism and capacity markets also needs to be worked through. This means we’ll also need metering that’s more advanced and closer to real time. All of this comes with the risk of gaming and market manipulation, so strong and near real time regulation with a clear rulebook will be essential. There’s a lot of work ahead to work through who takes primacy in our future markets. If you've made it this far, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Please connect with me, leave a reaction, or share your comments – they often spark more interesting discussions than my original post!

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New Report: What leading carbon credit buyers do differently At Abatable, we’ve supported corporate climate leaders such as EY and more than 200 others in contracting 55 million tonnes of high-quality carbon credits across geographies and project types. Along the way, we’ve sourced over one billion tonnes of CO₂ and seen firsthand what separates the most effective buyers from the rest. We’ve distilled those insights into nine lessons, supported by case studies from leading companies, that can help organisations: - Build robust carbon procurement strategies aligned with climate goals - Reduce costs and risks in procurement - Ensure purchased credits meet integrity standards - Communicate climate impact with confidence The voluntary carbon market is complex. With tens of thousands of projects worldwide, carbon credits are not interchangeable. The way you source, evaluate, and purchase them directly shapes your costs, risks, and climate impact. Download the full report via the link in comments. #carbon #climate #sustainability #leadership

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