
What has that to do with liquid fuel I hear you ask?
Well, in Ireland, we have three organisations who all have an interest in liquid fuels; OFTEC, UKIFDA and Fuels for Ireland.
Rather than the three groups all doing their own thing, we agreed to come together and establish TAZCH, the acronym stands for “The Alliance for Zero Carbon Heating.”
Under this name we have lobbied successfully on behalf of the liquid fuel sector, culminating in both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael referencing HVO and sustainable biofuels in the manifestos of both parties.
Fast forward to the Programme for Government and we now see in black and white;
• Target older homes still using oil to switch to renewable heating systems, lowering carbon footprints and costs.
• Consider the use of sustainable biofuels to reduce emissions from existing home boilers where deep retrofits are not possible in the short term.
This is good news.
If we look at the state of play; as of November 2024, heating in the residential sector in Ireland accounted for 10% of emissions. While the Government has a target to install 400,000 heat pumps by 2030 in existing homes, less than 20,000 have been installed since 2020. In 2024, the total number of heat pumps included in SEAI retrofits was only 3,609.
Even in the unlikely situation that the 2030 target is met, that still leaves more than 300,000 homes without a decarbonisation solution. If the Government is to meet its 2030 targets and avoid significant fines, all technologies need to have a role to play in decarbonisation, including heat pumps, retrofitting to include energy efficiency measures, and renewable fuels.
The irony is, TAZCH never disagreed with heat pumps as a heating source; for new or energy efficient buildings or where the grid will support the load, heat pumps are the obvious choice, but for hundreds of thousands of families, the cost of making their homes heat pump-ready makes a switch impossible. That is where low carbon liquid fuels can play a role. They are available in substantial quantities and an existing liquid fuelled boiler can make the switch with minimal adjustments and no capital spend on the building fabric.
So, with HVO and other biofuels now being specified in the Programme for Government we can sit down with ministers and civil servants and agree the new policy vehicle, the Renewable Heating Obligation that will pave the way for a lower carbon blended fuel to be the new normal for heating fuel and to replace kerosene.
Low carbon fuels have already been integrated into the transport sector in Ireland using existing infrastructure, with uptake continuing to rise. A 20% biofuel blend used in heating fuels has already been assessed in both the UK and Ireland and can work effectively in tandem with current government policies.
Furthermore, introducing a 20% blend in Ireland could lead to a reduction in emissions comparable to deep retrofitting and installing heat pumps in 160,000 homes (based on current installation heat pump installation rates this would take approximately 26 years to achieve).
Watch this space as we continue to work with Darragh O’Brien, the new Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy and other government departments to ensure consumers have a choice on how to heat their home in the future and contribute to reducing their carbon emission but in a cost-effective way to suit their budgets. If we can get renewable liquid fuels accepted in the Republic of Ireland, it is only a matter of time before the other regions follow suit.
Liquid fuel sector meets SEAI at Grant Engineering
As part of our continuing campaign, we invited representatives from Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to a presentation on how the liquid fuel sector plans to decarbonise domestic heating. The meeting took place in Grant Engineering in Offaly and the reps from SEAI welcomed the presentation and tour of the facility.
Many questions were asked about the equipment and fuel, including the inevitable questions about supply, affordability, sustainability, and availability of feedstock. A constructive debate about the pros and cons of biofuels was had and SEAI did refer to the national heat study which said heat pumps and heat networks were the preferred choice without ruling out some biofuels.
We did advise SEAI that all forms of low and no-carbon heating will be required if we stand a chance to deliver on the 2030 targets and said the sector was pushing hard for the biofuel obligation to be set at 20% instead of the 2% proposed in the consultation.
Republic of Ireland lobbying success
In the Republic of Ireland OFTEC, UKIFDA and Fuels for Ireland (FFI) work in partnership under the name The Alliance for Zero Carbon Heating (TAZCH). We collectively employ the services of a lobbying company and its remit ahead of the election was to have the various parties recognise the role that sustainable biofuels could play in the decarbonisation of home heating.
The very good news is that both Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the independent grouping included reference to HVO in their manifestos. They all stated that they would promote the use of HVO and biogas as an alternative fuel source for domestic heating.
This is a welcome change and clearly, they can see the 2030 targets are not going to be met with the current single technology and pro-electrification policy. We await the formation of the new Government and will be pushing hard for a change in policy to see HVO included in the mix of fuels helping decarbonisation targets.
Image supplied by OFTEC
