Fossil fuel heating
Heat forms a significant component of our energy use (see this section for more details). The type of heat use can be divided into:
- Industrial heat use: the use of fossil fuels in industrial applications to produce heat for industrial processes. For example, paper manufacturing requires heat to evaporate water from the pulp as part of the paper process.
- Space heating: the use of fossil fuels, such as gas, to provide heating in winter and cooling in summer. For example, gas boilers as part of central heating systems burn gas to heat water.
Replacing this energy production with renewable sources reduces emissions associated with the production of heat. Technologies to do this includes:
- ground or air source heat pumps
- sustainable biomass fuelled boilers
- the capture and distribution of heat from existing electricity generation
- the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable fuels, such as the injection of biogas into the gas network or the replacement of coal with renewable, alternative fuels (such as solid recovered fuel, a derivative of waste).
This is explained more in this section.
