Case Study G – Gas Central Heating

Context

In 1963, around 70% of UK homes were heated by coal. Only around 10% of the UK market for heating installations was for oil, ‘town gas’ (carbonised coal) or electric appliances. By 1977, nearly half of homes had natural gas central heating. This rapid transformation was well organised and centrally promoted, supported by legislation and investment. But it was also enabled by technical innovation and spurred on by the discovery of methane gas resources in the North Sea. So how
was such a rapid and widespread transition from coal to gas, and from room-based heating to central heating achieved?

Key Elements of Change

Several key elements combined to create this rapid energy transition. Until the late 1950s, central heating was based on expensive large bore pipework, available only to the wealthier in larger properties. The invention of small-bore (<30mm) hot water pipework systems driven by small, quiet pumps made water-based heating systems cheaper and easier-to-fit. At the same time, housing standards were starting to be regulated, with the Parker-Morris report in 1961 setting expectations
for ‘decent housing’ with more floor space, well-proportioned rooms and better heating. This emerged from a gradual investment in social housing – from 1931 to 1971, the share of council homes rose from 7 to 31%, making large stocks of housing available for centralised management.

Into this picture, the British Coal Utilization Research Association (BCURA) emerged as a major instigator promoting central heating. BCURA aimed to promote the utilisation of coal and its derivatives, and saw small-bore central heating systems as an ideal opportunity to promote the consumption of town gas (i.e. gasified coal). From 1957, it published information about small-bore systems and their benefits, and simultaneously improved system controls to make them suitable for domestic properties. It also promoted these systems heavily among heating design professionals and in the heating supply chain.

Clean heating systems were increasingly fashionable and were promoted in popular magazines such as ‘Ideal Home’, even if these promoted a wide range of technologies to its aspirational middle class readers. Other sectors were equally engaged in promoting clean heating systems, including the Electricity Development Association. What BCURA could not know then was the scale of natural gas discoveries to come in the 1970s.

Conversion to natural gas was centrally coordinated through government legislation and agencies, with a planned transition from 1967 to 1977. Appliance manufacturers were encouraged, fitters were trained, gas board staff ran information campaigns while also installing new pipework systems, developing new contracting systems and industrial relations agreements.

The nationalised gas industry brought together several hundred gas undertakings into 12 area boards, and the Gas Act of 1972 was implemented through a single organisation, the British Gas Corporation. Despite great uncertainty at the time, such as over demand for gas, available reserves, and many technological niceties (given the requirement to convert many thousands of kinds of gas appliances from coal to North Sea gas), and enormous levels of complaints, this conversion programme also shook up working practices in the industry. One sales director described the 1969 ‘Guaranteed Warmth’ campaign as the greatest single event to influence the development of central heating. Prices were standardised, making them appear predictable and manageable, and put the management of temperature gradients and other technicalities into the remit of the heating engineer.

Lessons for Net Zero

A key lesson from the Gas Central Heating (GCH) transition for net zero, is that rapid energy system transitions are possible but that social and political factors play a critical enabling role. In this case, many elements came together – technical innovation, market innovation, central coordination, design of contracts and working practices, alongside a popular movement for cleaner and ‘decent’ homes, spurred on by nationalised programmes for social housing. The idea of ‘decent homes’, and the role of GCH in improving heating, offered a collective vision of the future that people and organisations could subscribe to. Crucial to the ‘coming together’ of these many components of change, was central direction of the programme aligned with strong government coordination of all those involved.

Elements of Societal Change

Multi-factor DRIVERS OF CHANGE

• The development of ‘small-bore’ hot water pipework systems
• Changes in social attitudes (e.g. growing expectations of whole house heating)
• Centrally coordinated campaigns for promotion, skills-development, supply chains
• The discovery of natural gas in the North Sea

Mid-level ACTORS

• British Coal Utilization Research Association (BCURA)
• British Gas Corporation
• Local authorities

Galvanising ISSUE

• ‘Decent’ housing
• Cheap/Indigenous energy supply

JUSTICE Considerations

• Equal focus on social housing and home owners
• Access to gas already widespread through piped town gas – extended by central investment
  in bringing North Sea gas onshore to link to existing network

CONTESTATIONS and CONFLICTS

• Customers whose existing technologies (infrastructure/appliances) were easily converted
  to gas vs. those with appliances that were not convertible and deemed obsolete
• Natural Gas powered central heating vs. alternative fuels and heating systems e.g. gas,
  electric, oil and coal fired equipment
• Quality of workmanship among fitters

REFERENCES

• Hanmer, C. & Abram, S. (2017). Actors, networks, and translation hubs: Gas central
  heating as a rapid socio-technical transition in the United Kingdom. Energy Research and
  Social Science 34 176-183
• Sovacool, B. K. & Martiskainen, M. (2020). Hot transformations: Governing rapid and
  deep household heating transitions in China, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom.
  Energy Policy 139, 111330
• Trentmann, F. & Carlsson-Hyslop, A. (2018). The Evolution of Energy Demand in Britain :
  politics, daily life and public housing, 1920s-1970s. The Historical Journal 61 (3) 807-839
• Carlsson-Hyslop, A. (2016). Past Management of Energy Demand: Promotion and Adoption
  of Electric Heating in Britain 1945-1964. Environment and History 22 75-102