The future of liquid fuel heating will be under the spotlight next month when OFTEC officially launches its vision to improve energy efficiency and carbon reduction for off-grid homes at the trade association's annual conference and AGM.

OFTEC's chief executive officer Paul Rose will formally share the proposals with members and guests on 20 June at The Hilton Puckrup Hotel, near Tewkesbury. These focus on a two-stage approach, looking at a boiler replacement programme in the short term (2018-2022) and introducing a low carbon liquid fuel as a replacement to kerosene from 2022.

During the event, Mr Rose will also welcome OFTEC's new chairman, who officially takes over from Nick Hawkins, director of commercial operations at Kingspan Environmental, after two years in the post.

Mr Rose said: "We have been working hard behind the scenes for a number of months now to prepare our vision for the future of off-grid domestic heating. Our proposals aim to address BEIS' four key requirements to keep energy bills low, cost-effectively reduce carbon emissions, ensure a secure, resilient energy supply, and avoid unreasonable upfront costs for consumers in the process.

"We believe our two-stage approach of a boiler replacement scheme in the short term, followed by the introduction of a 'green' liquid fuel, ticks all these boxes and provides a realistic and practical solution to an urgent issue. Once the General Election is over, we will be pushing our message out hard to government and asking for the support we need to progress these plans to the next stage."

Additional speakers at the OFTEC conference include Tristan Suffys, secretary general of Eurofuel, who will discuss the state of the oil heating market across Europe, and Martin Cooke, technical director of EOGB, who will talk about the latest developments in modulating domestic burners and their benefits.

Mr Rose continued: "It's an exciting time for the oil heating industry. Manufacturers have already shown their strong ability to innovate with the development of modulating and multi stage burners. These, coupled with advanced control systems will further increase the efficiency of oil fired heating systems. But this will only take us so far and we need to look at greening the fuel itself. If we can unite industry and government behind this aim, I am confident we can turn our vision into a reality."

For more details on OFTEC's Conference, contact Andy Peirson at OFTEC on 01473 618552.

Pictured: OFTEC chairman Paul Rose.

More information on OFTEC's proposals for off-grid heating can also be found in HVP's May issue.