School reduces its carbon emissions by nearly 90% with HVO
25/03/2023
School reduces its carbon emissions by nearly 90% with HVO
A Cornish school is positively thriving after converting its kerosene oil fired heating system to a hydrotreated vegetable oil powered heating system. Headteacher Ellie Watkins said: “It’s really, really successful with us. It runs everything and the process of installing it and running on it has been so simple.”
How does HVO work?
Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) works just like heating oil but with a 88% reduction in carbon emissions. Unlike heat pumps whose effectiveness in rural properties can be poor unless significant and costly insulation improvement works are carried out, the conversion cost for the average boiler is around £500 compared to up to £20,000 for some properties.
What is HVO made of?
Made from certified waste fats and oils, HVO can be used as a direct replacement in conventional oil-fired systems with a quick and simple conversion completed during a boiler service will immediately reduce carbon emissions by 88%.
Trials have been very successful within the rural village of Kehelland in Cornwall which has very successfully converted many homes as well as the local school, church and various businesses with huge success.
David Biggs, a homeowner in Kehelland, has a standard oil-fired boiler that has been converted to run on HVO. He said “HVO is a great option for our home and we’re so pleased we made the switch – we’re saving nearly five metric tonnes of carbon every year as a result! We wanted to reduce our carbon emissions but the cost of installing a heat pump would have been very high for us.
The local school are also delighted with the results not only have they reduced their carbon emissions by 88% they have also cut their fuel bill by 30%! Not only is the carbon and fuel bills reduction a huge success the ease of install and running the boilers on HVO has also been a great success.
So much so that George Eustice Camborne and Redruth MP has called on the Government to incentivise the use of HVO in domestic boilers – removing current duty rates to make it cheaper.
He has been putting forward proposals to get more rural households to heat their homes with vegetable oil.
The bill would remove duties on renewable liquid heating fuels and encourage people to switch from using kerosene.
He said: “For a cost of a few hundred pounds to put in place a new nozzle and make some minor adjustments to their existing boiler they can continue to run their boiler as now but on a different fuel that’s got far fewer carbon emissions.
The successful HVO demonstration trial has proven categorically that HVO is a fantastic replacement for heating oil.
Not only does this method of heating our rural homes have many homeowners on board many rural MPs now understand the concerns about the government’s decarbonisation plans and the growing support for HVO as an alternative option.
The next step is to persuade the government to support HVO use in heating and to ensure it is available at an affordable cost.
We will report once we have any additional news on the exciting development.
How can we help?
If you have any questions about your home heating, oil heating or gas do give us a call we would be more than happy to chat to you.
