Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks today launched a call for evidence on the best ways to decarbonise the way we heat our homes and businesses. The call forms part of the plans to reduce the UK's CO2 emissions and to contribute to the target of obtaining 20% of all EU energy from renewables by 2020.

The call seeks advice on: existing technologies for producing heat in a lower carbon way - such as combined heat and power, renewable heat, heat from waste, and district heat - could be developed further.

Whether we need new incentives to stimulate the development of renewable heat, and what form they might take.

How surplus heat might be captured and what role there is for low-carbon electricity and which options could provide the most cost-effective solutions.

Mr Wicks said: "Heating our homes and businesses accounts for nearly half of the UK's energy demand and for almost half of our carbon dioxide emissions. We're already developing ambitious strategies for renewable electricity and biofuels in road transport but we need to seriously look into cost-effective sources of renewable heat. Keeping warm at the same time as tackling global warming is a big challenge.

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"We are looking for technical contributions and firm evidence of what the Government needs to do to develop renewable heat such as biomass, heat pumps and biogas. Also advice on what role low-carbon electricity should play in heating and how surplus heat can be captured, transported and re-used to heat local buildings rather than going to waste.

"The responses to this call will put us in a strong position to develop policy to take to consultation this summer and set out firm plans to reach the UK's share of the EU 2020 target."

The results of analysis of the heat market undertaken by the Office of Climate Change are set out in the document and are the starting point for ideas on how the UK needs to change to reach its target.

Households use heat for space heating (70%), heating water (27%) and cooking (3%). The majority (81%) of household heat is met using gas, the rest are met from electricity (8%), heating oil (8%) and solid fuels such as wood and coal (2%).

Heat for the commercial and public sectors is mainly used in buildings for space heating (71%), water heating (13%) and cooking (15%).

The domestic and industrial sectors generate roughly the same level of CO2 emissions from heat, even though domestic heat demand accounts for a larger proportion of final energy use. The reason for this is that industry uses a higher proportion of more carbon-intensive fuels or electricity to achieve the high temperatures needed.

The call for evidence will be followed by a formal consultation in the summer.

(GK/JM)