EWS | DIGEST New government strategy backs hydrogen for heat IN BRIEF Hoare Lea bought by Tetra Tech Consulting and engineering services firm Tetra Tech has acquired 100% of the interest in the UK building services consultancy Hoare Lea. The firm, founded by Henry Lea in 1862, will continue to operate as a standalone entity within the Tetra Tech group. Tetra Tech is an environmental consulting firm with more than 20,000 engineers, scientists and specialists. Hoare Lea will become part of its High Performance Buildings group, a global alliance of MEP firms. Managing partner Justin Spencer said the additional resources provided by the new owners would help Hoare Lea adapt to a period of accelerated change. Final decision on gas potential not expected until trials end in 2026 Hydrogen will have a key role to play in the UKs attempts to decarbonise heating, according to a new government strategy. The policy is intended to provide 5GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2030 and the government believes hydrogen could replace natural gas in more than three million homes and help power transport and industry. As much as 35% of the UKs energy consumption by 2050 could be hydrogenbased, according to the strategy. However, decision about the potential for hydrogen in homes until 2026 after a series of trials have been completed. It sees a role for both green and blue hydrogen and believes the industry could Commercial buildings could be stranded by new MEES Some commercial buildings could fail to meet legal minimum energy standards and become stranded assets, according to real estate management firm Colliers. The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), set to be extended in 2023, will mean buildings with an EPC rating lower than E will no longer be lettable. This could affect up to 10% of London offices, the firm said. Tom Wildash, co-head of office leasing in Londons West End at Colliers, told the Financial Times: If you are sitting on a building thats below an E rating and you want to get to a B rating, thats a substantial bit of refurbishment. deliver 9,000 jobs and 4bn worth of investment by the end of this decade. Eventually, the sector could support 100,000 jobs and be worth 13bn by 2050, according to the strategy document. The government is consulting on a similar approach to the one used to grow the offshore wind sector. This would include the use of a contracts-for-difference (CfD) scheme, which incentivises investment by shielding developers from volatile wholesale prices and offers consumers protection from high electricity costs. Business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: Today marks the start of the UKs hydrogen revolution. This home-grown clean energy source has the potential to transform the way we power our lives and will be essential to tackling climate change and reaching net zero. Baxi demonstrates hydrogen boiler Baxis Nick Wilson outside the hydrogen house Intelligent buildings market set for growth Intelligent building (IB) solutions are projected to grow by almost 15% by 2030, according to a new report. Guidehouse Insights Market Data: Intelligent Buildings said IB solutions revenue is anticipated to grow globally from $38.2bn (27.8bn) in 2021 to $127.9bn (93bn) by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 14.4%. In 2020 and 2021, several building segments faced dramatic decreases in use but, in practice, demand increased in all building types in all geographic regions and will likely continue to grow in double digits through 2030, said William Hughes, Guidehouse Insights principal research analyst. Baxi Heating has demonstrated its 100% hydrogen boiler to a range of near Gateshead. The company has pledged to manufacture only low carbon energycompatible products from 2025, which means that all of its gas boilers will be hydrogen ready. While we are not wedded to any one technology, hydrogen represents a great opportunity, said commercial and marketing director Nick Wilson. It is carbon-free at the point of use and enables families to use their heating and hot water in the same way they do today, without major changes to their central heating systems or homes. What starts today with one house will become a community of houses next year and then we could see hydrogen boilers in millions of homes by the next decade. Boris planning new scrappage scheme The Prime Minister is understood to be keen to launch another boiler scrappage scheme with incentives of up to 7,000 to encourage homeowners to switch to low carbon heating alternatives including heat pumps. Boris Johnson wants to quadruple the budget for the 100m Clean Heat Grant, which is due to launch next April offering grants of up to 4,000 for homeowners to replace their gas boilers for low carbon alternatives. However, the Treasury is believed to be opposed to the extra expenditure that the Prime Minister hopes would deliver up to 60,000 new domestic heat pumps. The Times reported the plan was seen as crucial to achieving the PMs pledge to have 600,000 heat pumps installed every year by 2028 and set up a town with only hydrogen heating by the end of 2030. which is expected before this Novembers COP26 meeting in Glasgow. But sceptics are concerned government after just six months earlier this year with only a fraction of its budget spent. The government is also thought to be considering a complete ban on gas boilers by 2035. 8 September 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Sep 21 pp08-09 News.indd 8 27/08/2021 09:18