More should be done to prepare households to upgrade to electric appliances and stop defaults to like-for-like gas replacements when these systems conk out, according to an energy researcher.
Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, says homeowners are rarely in the headspace to deal with extra complications when grappling with frigid homes and cold showers as their gas boilers fail.
While the breakdown of a gas hot-water system or an internal combustion engine vehicle is economically the opportune moment to switch to an electric alternative, reality often gets in the way.
“You call up the plumber and say ‘I’m thinking about getting a heat pump’, and they say ‘I’ll have to come around and do a heat-loss measurement’,” Mr Liebreich told the Energy Efficiency Council’s national conference on Wednesday.
“But I’m cold and the kids haven’t had a shower, and so on, forget it, we’ll just put another boiler in.”
In the United Kingdom, where the EcoPragma Capital managing partner is based, he has been advocating for policy interventions, potentially even small incentive payments, to encourage households to get “heat pump ready”.
“They know what heat pump they’re going to buy, they know which supplier they’re going to use, they have a plan,” he offered.
“They pull the plan out of the drawer and they execute it.”
Electrifying appliances, cars and machinery and running them off renewables is central to emissions-reduction goals worldwide.
The latest oil shock caused by conflict in the Middle East is viewed by Mr Liebreich as an opportunity to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and further action on clean energy, electrification and climate resilience.
Policymakers should be focused on lowering barriers for energy upgrades that are commercially competitive as per his “electrification staircase”.
For aviation and other industries where tech is in its infancy and still expensive, policy intervention should be limited to grants, trials and research.
“The worst thing you can do is try to roll something out prematurely because you’re imposing costs on people and businesses that have no tolerance for costs,” he said.
“I’m not saying walk away from them, I’m just saying understand what is commercial and treat it appropriately in the policy environment.”
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