Are heat pumps eco friendly?
At Good Energy, our mission is to help people to cut their carbon at home, and we do this through supplying 100% renewable electricity, installing solar panels and air source heat pumps.
Feedback from our customers shows us that cutting carbon emissions is the number one people that people choose to heat their homes with an air source heat pump, rather than a traditional boiler.
In this article, we explain why heat pumps are an eco-friendly heating solution, and how they will help you to cut your home’s carbon footprint.
What makes heat pumps eco friendly?
Heat pumps get your home off gas or oil
Heating homes with gas is responsible for nearly 15% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. Decarbonising our heating is vital if we are to transition into a zero carbon economy and meet our climate targets.
Switching to a renewable, low carbon air source heat pump is one of the biggest single actions you can take to reduce your home’s contribution to climate change – it can reduce your home’s carbon footprint by up to 65%* compared with heating your home with a gas boiler.
Heat pumps are very efficient
Heat pumps are an incredibly efficient way to heat your home. Those we have installed generate around 3.5 times more heat energy than they use to run – compared with a gas boiler that only turns 90% of the energy it uses into heat for your home. Because air source heat pumps are much more efficient, they use a lot less energy to run, saving energy and sometimes money too.
Heat pumps run off electricity – which is reducing in carbon every year
As we introduce more renewables to the grid, the electricity used to run heat pumps is reducing in carbon intensity. Last year in the UK, nearly 40% of the electricity on our grid was generated from renewable sources, and 15.5% was generated from low carbon nuclear power.
What’s more, if your home is powered by a renewable energy supplier like Good Energy, heating your home using an air source heat pump would have zero carbon emissions.
Heat pumps are compatible with solar panels and home batteries
Switching from a gas or oil powered boiler to a heat pump will increase the amount of electricity you use. A great way to offset this is to install solar panels, and use your own home-generated electricity to power your heat pump. When the sun isn’t shining, your heat pump and other applicances around your home will draw electricity from the National Grid.
Hear from our customer Di, who has an air source heat pump, solar panels and a home battery.
Heat pumps last longer than traditional boilers
Air source heat pumps are highly reliable and require little to no maintenance outside of the annual service. What’s more, the typical lifespan of an air source heat pump is between 15-20 years – slightly longer than a traditional boiler’s lifespan of 10-15 years – leading to less waste.
Heat pumps don’t emit nitrous oxide
Gas boilers account for a fifth of air pollution from nitrogen oxides in urban areas. Nitrous oxide is a climate-warming gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, that can also damage the ozone layer. Air source heat pumps on the other hand don’t emit nitrous oxide.
What are the Government’s targets for decarbonising heating?
The government has set challenging targets for heat pump installations to help the UK to meet its next milestone cutting carbon emissions. From 2025, all new homes will have to have low carbon heating systems, and from 2035 sales of new gas or oil boilers will be banned.
In order to make them a financially comparable solution to getting a new traditional boiler installed, the Government have cut taxes on clean technologies, and introduced the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The scheme provides grants of £7,500 towards the cost of installing a new air source heat pump, bringing the installation cost broadly in line with a new gas boiler.
*The figure of 65% is based on reducing your heating carbon footprint by switching from gas as your main fuel source to electricity. It also assumes a heat pump seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) of 3.65.
