Net zero has diluted the benefits of heat pumps
sir – The contrasting letters (February 28) from Roger Wood and Peter Gilbert illustrate that, as with electric car ownership, only those of us with substantial means can benefit from installing a heat pump.
Air-source heat pumps do not perform adequately, particularly at temperatures below 5C, but very few householders have the space or access to install the more expensive groundsource versions.
Mr Gilbert does not say how much he has invested in his boreholes, heat pump, insulation and solar array, nor does he tell us the characteristics of his home, but I should not be surprised if his expenditure exceeded £40,000. The claim of a four-to-one return on kilowatt usage is based on laboratory testing and is seldom achieved in practice (like the claimed fuel consumption of diesel or petrol cars and the range of electric cars).
I installed a ground-source heat pump in 2008, when the annual operating cost was under £1,000 and heating oil had risen to 65p per litre. Owing to the failure of successive governments to ensure adequate electricity generation, alongside the unrealistic pursuit of net-zero carbon (with the associated “green levy”), the operating cost has risen to £7,000.
And guess what – oil is currently 65p per litre. I am pleased that I retained the oil tank and pipe work.
John Micklethwaite
York
sir – I have shares in Shell, National Grid and Centrica. Obviously I look for a good dividend, as these organisations appear to have made lots of money from the energy crisis.
However, it is high time the Government clipped their wings with an increased windfall tax. This would give them an incentive to cut prices, which at present they don’t have. Duncan Rayner
Sunningdale, Berkshire