On 14th December 2020, the Government published the ‘Energy White Paper: Powering our Net Zero Future’ which has been produced to set out the path to achieve the Climate Change Act 2008 requirement of of an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050. The White Paper promotes high-skilled jobs, clean economic growth and the transformation of the nation’s energy sector to combat climate change and deliver net-zero emissions by 2050.
As ever with these Government White Papers, there is a lot of material covered throughout the 170 page document. Being a heat pump company, we ought to bring you the heat pump relevant information listed in the Energy White Paper!
Heat pumps are included throughout the document, showing the Government’s keenness to ensure heat pumps become the new ‘normal’ when it comes to heating systems.
As stated in the Energy White Paper:
“We will grow the installation of electric heat pumps from 30,000 per year to 600,000 per year by 2028”
We recently blogged about New Building Regulations for 2022 which is a precursor to the fossil fuel ban in all new builds from 2025. Industry experts believe these implementations should come sooner However it is a start, and housing developers and self-builders will soon be installing heat pumps over any other fossil fuel source.
Electricity as a source of energy
In the strategic context section for consumers, the White Paper goes into detail about how energy is integral to everything we do, and how the way we use energy in the home is changing. Over the next 30 years, electricity will deliver a high proportion of the energy we use at home, with electric cars replacing petrol and diesel and the installation of heat pumps replacing oil and gas.
The way we are producing energy and electricity has transformed, an example being that back in June 2019, Britain obtained more of its energy from zero carbon sources than from fossil fuels. This has continued with an increase in power from wind and solar and a decrease in power from the closure of fossil fuel power plants, such as coal.
Heat pumps are an efficient way to use electricity. Heat pumps typical produce between 3kWh to 4kWh of useful heat from 1kWh input, making heat pumps an efficient low carbon heating system.
The future is green with Heat Pumps
No matter who you are, the future of green heating will affect you. As a general house builder or developer you will HAVE to install low carbon sources in new builds from 2025. Alto Energy can help you prepare for these changes now with the Alto Energy MCS umbrella scheme designed to work with you and your heating installers.
As a heating or plumbing installer you will lead the change by being the ones who actually install the kit. We speak to numerous plumbers on a daily basis who are massively put off installing heat pumps because of the complexities of designing heat pump systems. After a chat with us, that soon changes. We offer a MCS umbrella scheme which takes away all of the hassles of design and MCS, and provides you with everything you need prior to installing a heat pump. Alto Energy also offer heat pump training which will only take up 3-4 hours of your day to complete, and after that you will have the knowledge required to install a heat pump.
As a self-builder or homeowner you will be installing a or replacing a heat pump into your own home. There are government incentives in the shape of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which pays homeowners over 7 years for the amount of renewable heat they produce and applies to both new builds and existing properties. There is also the Green Homes Grant (GHG) which applies to existing properties and those looking to improve the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock. You can get £5,000-£10,000 towards the cost of a heat pump to replace your existing heating system.
Contact Alto Energy
If you want to learn more about the future role of heat pumps for you, get in contact with our heat pump experts today. If you have a live project, or are thinking about installing a heat pump for your project, please do contact us to discuss this.