Decarbonising heat in schools will play a key role in achieving government climate targets and driving down energy use and bills for schools, while improving building conditions. But progress remains slow. Jeff House, Director of External Affairs and Policy at Baxi, discusses the barriers and opportunities to accelerate change.
Decarbonising heat across all sectors, including education, is central to the Government’s strategy for 2050 net zero. In 2023, buildings accounted for 20% of total UK emissions. Public sector buildings, including schools, represented 11% of these emissions, with gas for heating being the dominant contributor[1].
The condition of the UK school estate is also declining, costing an estimated £11.4bn to bring buildings up to a good standard of repair. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems represent £2.1bn of the total. In 2022/23, maintained schools and academies in England spent around £1.2bn on energy costs with heating accounting for 60% of energy use[2].
While some progress has been made, following concerns that only 20% of England’s schools estate will be net zero compliant by 2050[3], it’s clear that action is needed and fast. However, the scale of the task can seem daunting. In the wider public sector, there are over 100,000 built assets, about a third of which are education and a large proportion of which rely on gas boilers for heat. The built environment is also extremely diverse in terms of building types.
To understand in more depth the challenges and opportunities around decarbonising heat in schools, Baxi recently commissioned a survey of 100 school estates managers and 100 consultant engineers and heating contractors with experience of school projects. The respondents were primarily those with experience of installing and/or using heat pumps.
Encouragingly, the survey revealed widespread support for decarbonising heat and for heat pumps. However, persistent barriers were identified, primarily concerning technical difficulty, energy infrastructure, financing, and risks. Let’s consider the obstacles and possible solutions.
Technical difficulty
Technical difficulty was identified as the most prominent barrier to deployment. With 36% and 39% of school estates managers and consultant engineers and contractors respectively identifying the challenge, there may be a skills gap which can stall decarbonisation projects.
Holistic and effective decarbonisation requires specific skills and expertise at an individual, team and organisational level. Many public sector organisations do not have this capacity and capability. As a result, they cannot always identify what they need to do to decarbonise or deliver on identified needs.
For this reason, support from the heating industry will be invaluable in helping deliver clean energy projects. Using their experience and expertise, heat experts should be able to advise school estates managers on the different design options when installing heat pumps and other low carbon options to achieve optimal results and peak efficiency.
The importance of system monitoring should also be emphasised as this will help ensure that the system continues to perform efficiently. Having sight of the carbon and efficiency savings has the added advantage of helping the local authority or school estate manager justify the investment.
Energy infrastructure
Both groups also agreed that existing electrical capacity, additional power requirements and approval to connect from the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) were a challenge, with 36% of consultant engineers and contractors outlining this as a barrier to decarbonisation.
Where additional power is required, a practical approach is to ensure that applications to the DNO are made at the early stages. This will enable the electrical infrastructure suitability to be assessed for the increased electrical load requirements. Any potential upgrade works can then be planned in advance to avoid possible delays and keep the project on track.
A more strategic policy recommendation would be to utilise Great British (GB) Energy to accentuate synergies between school capacity or power requirements and GB Energy clean energy projects.
Financing
Inevitably, decarbonising buildings brings a capital cost. Low-carbon heating can cost more than fossil fuel counterfactuals, both up-front and over its lifetime with current energy prices.
So what support is available to state schools?
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector organisations, including schools and academies, to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.
Up to £3.8bn is being invested through the scheme over the financial years 2020/21 to 2027/28 to provide grants for public sector bodies, including schools and the education sector. However, access to this funding is stretched between various school improvement priorities and, while there is a Sector Cap for education, it is competed for between public sector organisations. Ringfencing specific funding for school heating system decarbonisation might provide the necessary support to accelerate progress.
Our research found that generally, as the school size increased, affordability was less frequently recognised as a core challenge to decarbonising heat by school estates managers. It’s worth noting, therefore, that smaller schools may need greater financial support for heating projects.
Spark gap
The UK’s energy pricing is also placing a persistent barrier in front of those at the forefront of decarbonising state schools. In March, the government announced GB Energy’s first investment activities to install rooftop solar power in schools and complementary decarbonisation technologies (£80m for schools: £40m GB Energy, £40m DfE). This is a welcome move as using technologies such as solar panels and batteries alongside heat pumps will help lower energy costs. However, addressing the spark gap will be key to drive heat pump deployment.
Hybrid heating solutions
The study identified potential solutions to accelerating heat decarbonisation in schools in the form of hybrid heat pump systems and prefabricated packaged solutions. Among the survey respondents, hybrid systems that combine a heat pump with gas condensing boilers are a popular solution, with a slight preference for this technology over a standalone heat pump system.
This could be attributed to several factors, including costs, integration with existing hydronic systems, reduced risk factor, and the shorter installation timeframes required to install a hybrid solution versus converting to a standalone heat pump system.
However, grant support for hybrid heat pump solutions under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) is limited, despite the strong backing for the technology. Providing greater clarification over hybrid heating system guidance in support schemes could be what is needed to set some of the harder-to-treat school buildings on a pathway to net zero.
Net zero roadmap
Ultimately, if schools are to keep on track for 2050 net zero, heat decarbonisation needs to accelerate rapidly in their existing building stock. The heating industry has a pivotal role to play in explaining the various options and techniques for decarbonising their heating systems and the carbon, energy and cost impacts of each. Working together to remove the current blockers and break down the complexities, we can help schools to plot their net zero roadmap and provide them with the appropriate solutions and support to keep them on track with their climate goals.
Read Baxi’s survey report here. Find out more about our solutions for schools on our website.
[1] 2023 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Final Figures
[2] Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool – GOV.UK
[3] MPs warn Government progress is lacking as only 20% of the England’s schools estate will be net zero compliant by 2050 – Committees – UK Parliament
