are Heat Pumps for Everyone?
Are heat pumps really the way forward for selfbuilders and renovators, asks David Hilton
When the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) was introduced, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) expected 513,000 new heat pump heating systems to be installed under the scheme by
2021. At current rates, the actual number will be more like 111,000. Over the past four years only around 60,000 appliances have been fitted under the domestic RHI scheme, compared with over six million boilers. So what is going wrong?
A recent report from the Committee for Climate Change (CCC) has accused the BEIS of not understanding consumer need. It also pointed to high upfront costs, uncertainty about incentive levels and eligibility, and the hassle factor of finding competent installers. The over-burdensome nature of installer accreditation has put many plumbing firms off renewables, leaving the installations down to a few specialist companies. This has resulted in consumers sticking with what they know, both with technologies and installers.
The CCC has an ambition to electrify heating but several industry voices believe that there are more cost-effective ways to meet the carbon reduction challenge. Worcester Bosch has said that heat pumps are not suitable for most of our homes. You might expect this comment from a major boiler manufacturer but they do have a point. An examination of the 640,000-plus homes off the gas grid showed that only about 12% had an EPC rating of C or above, which is realistically the minimum requirement to achieve an efficient heat pump heating system. Any property below that would need disruptive (and potentially expensive) insulation improvements or a hybrid heat pump and boiler design. As it is not the boilers that produce carbon emissions but rather the fuel that they run on, is it not time to add urgency to the process of decarbonising fuels? I am not advocating the wholesale use of food crops used for biofuel but there are great steps being made with waste-to-fuel products and the development of hydrogen boilers. To put it into perspective, LPG is now available as a biogas mix and OFTEC, the oil heating body, states that all liquid fuel boilers could run on low carbon alternative fuel by 2035. For more on innovative heating options, see page 159.