Are Heat Pumps the Way Forward?
Join us at Amersham Library on the 1st of October, 2022, at 11 am for our next free talk on Heat Pumps.
In the news there have been stories about energy bills rising this winter and concerns about the impacts of climate change on our lives. These two issues connect when we consider how we heat our homes. Home heating accounts for 14% of the UK carbon emissions because most buildings in the UK are heated by gas boilers and gas is a fossil fuel which emits carbon dioxide when it is burned.
A principal strategy for reducing those carbon emissions is to transfer our heating source from gas to electricity. It is possible to reduce the carbon emissions of electricity production (for example by using wind or solar energy) and it is also easier for the UK to be self-sufficient in electricity.
Heating our homes with electricity has proved difficult and inefficient in the past but a new government scheme aims to encourage uptake of newer, more efficient technology. The Boiler Upgrades Scheme was launched on 1st April this year and will provide funding for 90,000 homes.
This will give grants of up to £5000 towards swapping from a gas or oil boiler to an air source heat pump. This is important because the cost of an air source heat pump installation usually starts from £6000.
Air source heat pumps look like air conditioning units and are fixed on the outside of the house. Unlike gas boilers, they run at a lower temperature and need to run more continuously to keep our homes warm.
To ensure the greatest efficiency the homes need to be well insulated and a condition of obtaining one of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants will be to certify that all recommended insulation has been installed. The hope is that this scheme will support the development of the heat pump market and lead to future cost reductions. The UK government is projecting that there will be 600,000 heat pump installations annually in the UK by 2028 which compares to 35,000 in 2021.
A recent Electrification of Heat Demonstration project showed that a wide variety of British housing stock is suitable for heat pump installation. This project is still running to find out how the pumps run in practice in a variety of houses. The government has launched a service enabling you to check if a heat pump is suitable for your home: www.gov.uk/check-heat-pump
Our 3rd Talk will focus on describing how this new piece of technology works and what you need to do to install it at home.
We will have time for open questions and will later stay around the Lifestyle Center cafe to chat and introduce more about our association!
Register for free with Eventbrite or just turn up!