In a recent report by the International Energy Agency, it was recommended that no new gas boilers should be be sold from 2025. Full stop. In an article from the BBC, they’ve looked at the alternatives, in particular heat pumps, which will become the “new normal” for heating over the next decade.
What’s Wrong With Gas?
Gas boilers work by combusting natural gas, which is a fossil fuel. As a consequence, this combustion produces carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. Release of greenhouse gases into the environment is a significant cause of climate change. Heating homes accounts for about 37% of UK carbon emissions, which is a huge amount, and so drastic action is needed to reduce this.
What About Hydrogen?
Hydrogen is getting a lot of press at the moment, because there is no carbon dioxide produced from it’s combustion. However there are significant drawbacks to the technology. Firstly, whilst no carbon dioxide is produced, an unavoidable by-product of burning hydrogen in air is nitrous oxides, which are classed as serious pollutants. Secondly, we are unlikely to be able to produce enough hydrogen, and where we can produce it it will be limited to areas near wind turbines.
Why Heat Pumps?
Heat pumps operate using electricity, and extract solar energy stored in the air or the ground to deliver space heating and hot water to the home. As electricity is increasingly coming from zero-carbon sources such as solar and wind, thus heat pumps represent the future of clean heating. There is no on-site combustion either, so as well as no carbon dioxide produced on site, there are also no nitrous oxides or other pollutants.
Furthermore, the technology for heat pumps is well established here and now. As a business heat pumps are all we do, it’s what we specialise in, and we believe that heat pumps are simple and easy to install if you know what you’re doing!
ACT NOW!
There has actually never been a better time to install a heat pump. The Government’s generous Renewable Heat Incentive (“RHI”) is still running until March 2022, and this offers generous ongoing incentives over a seven year period for producing renewable heat. You can read more in our blog here.