We got a heat pump!
After our boiler packed it in this winter (as so many do when we need them most in the cold months) we decided it was a great time to get our office on clean heat. So we got a heat pump!
But what is a heat pump? And how do they work?
Here’s your guide to all things heat pump related.
What are heat pumps? How do they work?
A heat pump is a clean replacement for a gas boiler, powered by electricity rather than directly burning fossil fuels. Heat pumps are super efficient and able to heat our homes without heating the planet.
How do they do this without burning fossil fuels? Heat pumps don’t generate heat. Instead, they extract ambient heat naturally stored in the air or the ground, pressurise it to increase the temperature, and then pump it to our radiators. So there are two common types of heat pump:
Air-source heat pumps:
The most common type which draws ambient heat from the air using a fan.
Ground-source heat pumps
These pumps use pipes buried underground to pull heat from the earth.
Which of these you should get depends on your house but the most important thing is they both work during the winter months without further jeopardising our climate.
Why are heat pumps better for the climate?
Heat pumps not only do not require the direct burning of fossil fuels but can be run solely on renewable electricity. This means they offer the possibility of zero-carbon heating.
Heat pumps are also extremely efficient. For every unit of electricity you give to a heat pump, it produces 2-4 units of heat energy! This makes heat pumps up to four times more efficient than gas boilers.
Currently, 17 million UK homes are reliant on fossil fuel-guzzling gas boilers. Collectively these emit twice as much carbon as every gas-fired power station in the UK combined.
Unsurprisingly then, heating buildings with fossil fuels is a massive contributor to UK carbon emissions, accounting for between 20 and 25% of all emissions each year. The gas we burn to heat our homes is fuelling the climate crisis, causing fires, floods and extreme weather all around us.
Heat pumps will help us get ahead on climate change, and off fossil fuels.
How many heat pumps are there in the UK already?
The potential of this amazing technology is already being recognised in Western Europe, with both France and Sweden already installing 1 million heat pumps in homes. Whilst with roughly 160,000 heat pumps installed nationwide, the UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe with the worst record of heat pump sales in the continent.
The government’s new Heat and Buildings Strategy, announced in October 2021, has positioned heat pumps front and centre to make our homes fit for a renewable future. The government recently launched the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, offering grants of up to £5,000 to help around 90,000 households in upgrade their homes with heat pumps.
This is an important start, but it’s not enough to get the UK on track to reducing dangerous carbon emissions down to zero. The Climate Change Committee says that we need 900,000 heat pumps per year installed by 2028.
The government has a massive role to play in speeding this up - by helping more households make the switch to cleaner, greener heat pumps.
You can help get more heat pumps into UK homes and get us off fossil fuels for good. Here’s how:
Find out more about heat pumps and the financial support available.
Add your name to the growing number of people calling for clean home heating
Share this article with your friends and family to spread the word about heat pumps and get more people on board with climate-friendly heating.
Two of our fabulous co-directors with our brand-new heat pump!