County Down home owner reduces carbon footprint after becoming the first in Northern Ireland to heat house using a cooking oil

The owners of a new-build house in County Down are on course to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint after becoming the first homeowner in Northern Ireland to heat a new build home using a biofuel.

The property at Ballyfrenis outside Millisle, is using a combination of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for space heating via a biofuel-ready condensing boiler with hot water coming from a solar-assisted heat pump.

As a result, the home is on course to deliver savings of around five tonnes of carbon dioxide per year which it would ordinarily have been releasing into the atmosphere.

The news comes as the Department for the Economy publishes its 2023 Energy Strategy Action Plan with the inclusion of low carbon energy sources a key part of the document.

With a public consultation on heating planned this summer, the action plan outlines the Department’s priority areas for action in 2023.

High on the list of objectives is replacing high carbon heating sources with lower and zero sources in households and businesses.

In Ballyfrenis the home adaptations have been so successful that the property has had a revised energy performance rating, increasing from B85 to A96, far in excess of the Northern Ireland average of D60 (A ratings require a score of 92+).

OFTEC, the trade association for the liquid fuel industry, oversaw the boiler conversion while London-based Green Biofuels Ltd supplied the advanced HVO fuel, called GD+.

The heating solution was designed by Next Gen Power and as part of the project the hot water is hydraulically separate from space heating and is supplied by a solar assisted heat pump. This allows the boiler to operate in condensing mode all the time.

The homeowner has added 4.5kW of solar PV linked to battery storage in the garage. He charges the battery pack overnight. Any excess is exported back to the grid.

OFTEC Ireland manager, David Blevings, said: “Utilising HVO (which is made from used cooking oil and animal fat from food industry waste) and the solar we are estimating a total carbon emission of approximately 1.14 tonnes, that’s a reduction of over five tonnes of CO2 or an 88% reduction in the overall carbon footprint.

“As NI looks forward to a heat consultation in the summer months, there is growing support for a range of technologies to be used and calls for all low carbon pathways to be explored. It has been encouraging to see the Department’s Energy Strategy Action Plan include the need for low carbon energy sources in Northern Ireland.

“In GB and the Republic, both governments are proposing an all-electric future with air source heat pumps being promoted as the preferred option and district heating in urban areas.

“In OFTEC’s opinion, a heat pump is an ideal product for a new build or thermally efficient house, but with 70% of bungalows, 50% of semis, 53% of detached and 44% of terraces in Northern Ireland being in SAP Band D–G, you must ask if these properties are suitable for this technology.

“Many will say yes, but with governments’ own data showing that to retrofit/upgrade insulation and install a heat pump it will cost anywhere from £23,000 to £30,000. With consumer finance at a real time low is this really a viable option for around 500,000 homes currently using oil and approximately 200,000 using natural gas in Northern Ireland?”

The home outside Millisle is being monitored by Dr Patrick Keatley of NEMO Energy Limited.

Dr Keatley explained: “With HVO emitting 0.036 kgCO 2 /kWh compared to kerosene at 0.298 kgCO 2 /kWh we can achieve a substantial reduction in the carbon footprint immediately.

“Adding in the benefits of the solar assisted heat pump for hot water, along with battery storage, we are estimating that we can bring the carbon emissions down to 1.14 tonnes of CO 2 which is almost 90% lower than the original footprint using kerosene and 100% grid electricity.

“We will be monitoring the property over the next 12 months and will confirm the findings at the end of the year. In terms of CO 2 emissions, an HVO-fired boiler can deliver the most rapid and significant reductions and requires the least behavioural change by customers”.

David added: “While there are challenges around cost and supply at scale, it is clear that HVO could be an effective decarbonisation solution for energy efficient, liquid fuelled homes in the future.

“Government support for HVO as a low-carbon heating solution could make it a relatively straightforward and cost-effective option for decarbonizing liquid fuelled homes today.”

Meanwhile, OFTEC has extended an open invitation to MLAs and MPs to meet and tour the Belfast Oil Terminal to see how the liquid fuel industry works in Northern Ireland and to discuss their plans for decarbonisation of the liquid fuelled heating sector.