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Insight and Technology

The race to green domestic heating and prevent climate catastrophe

Household heating systems are huge sources of carbon emissions, but many countries are showing how existing technologies can fix the problem

By Michael Le Page

14 November 2018

thermal image of house

Thermal imaging shows where bad insulation hikes carbon emissions

ivansmuk/Getty

WINTER is coming to the north. If you live in those climes, chances are you have already switched on your heating. Chances are, too, that your heating burns fossil fuels. If the world is to meet its climate goal of zero net carbon emissions by mid-century, that needs to change – and change fast. “We are two boiler replacements away from 2050,” says researcher Lukas Bergmann of consultancy firm Delta Energy & Environment.

It is a huge challenge. In the UK, for example, 85 …

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