Today I received an email from my dual fuel energy supplier offering me a £350 discount on a new Worcester Bosch boiler. I was assured that “[u]pgrading to one of [their] A-rated boilers could improve [my] energy efficiency at home – meaning lower energy bills and less [sic] carbon emissions.” They tell me that if I upgrade my boiler I could reduce my energy bills by £840 p.a.

This struck me as strange, because today I read an article in the Guardian under the heading “Heat pumps: more than 80% of households in Great Britain ‘satisfied with system’ – Exclusive: England, Scotland and Wales survey reports similar response to people with gas boilers”. This article referred to a user survey, commissioned by Eunomia, and undertaken by Nesta, which tells me that “[h]eat pumps are an important tool in the decarbonisation of heating as they are powered by electricity, which is increasingly supplied from zero carbon sources, and are highly efficient.” The Guardian article and the survey both stress the need for more heat pumps to be installed, and we are obviously supposed to stop using gas boilers. It seems that my suppliers haven’t yet received the memo.

Eunomia

As it happens, I’m not about to replace my gas boiler, which (fingers crossed, touch wood) is working fine, despite its great age. Instead, I want to discuss the survey which the Guardian assures me demonstrates 80% satisfaction with “system” (presumably a reference to heat pumps, given the rest of the heading and the subject-matter of the survey it is based on).

The first step, whenever a “survey” pushes a line, is to ask who commissioned it (and in the process to wonder why). A visit to Eunomia’s website soon gives you the gist of their worldview. The first page to greet you includes the news that it has appointed a “sustainability change-maker” as its inaugural CEO; a discussion of the EU’s Waste Framework Directive (“An EU Regulatory Framework for a Circular Economy consistent with 1.5 degrees”); and a Pro-bono Carbon Assessment for Devon Air Ambulance. When contemplating Eunomia’s values, we learn that they have a “Carbon Fund” – “to compensate for our footprint from business emissions” – and they have “signed up to the Science-Based Target Initiative business commitment to pursue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C, committing to a 50% reduction target by 2030 of absolute scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions from a 2018 base-year, and to measure and reduce our scope 3 emissions.”

Enough said.

The Survey

It doesn’t seem grossly unreasonable to speculate that such an organisation might be looking for a particular result from a survey about heat pumps. However, such speculation would be unfair unless a look at the survey backed up such scepticism. Does it do so? I would argue that it very much does. The Guardian puff piece on the survey failed to mention a number of significant pieces of information that the survey offers up.

The first point to note is the extremely limited response to the survey, despite Nesta’s best efforts to persuade heat pump users to take part. Take-up of heat pumps has been painfully slow to date. No doubt that is why surveys like this – gleefully taken up by the likes of the Guardian – are being undertaken, to try to encourage others to follow suit. It’s not too much of a surprise, then, to find that only 169,139 homes were identified as being within the survey’s sampling frame. Postal invitations to participate in the survey were sent to only around 23,500 of those homes. Despite offering a £200 prize draw for High Street vouchers, with a view to increasing the response rate, only 2,792 responses (about a 12% response rate) were received. Sadly, only 2,549 of those were complete, reducing the valid response rate to around 11%. However, since Nesta has decided only to consider the views of owner occupiers, another 154 responses (around 6% of the complete responses) were also excluded, because the respondents didn’t fall into the owner occupier category. Only 2,395 “valid” responses were therefore received, out of a possible 23,500, so the survey actually achieved a qualifying response rate of just over 10%.

To my mind that goes a long way towards invalidating the claim made by the Guardian to the effect that:

More than 80% of households that have replaced their gas boilers with an electric heat pump are satisfied with their new heating system, according to the first major survey of heat pump users.

The Guardian reports that this was a “survey of more than 2,500 domestic heat pump owners”, but it doesn’t tell its readers that the survey actually tried to reach around ten times that number, but valid responses were received from around only one in ten of such households.

Another interesting point is that people who have fitted heat pumps, despite their expense, are likely to be net zero converts who are enthusiasts for the heat pump experiment. This is borne out by the section of the survey dealing with motivations:

Eighty-five percent of heat pump purchases were planned and 13% were ‘distress’ purchases (made out of necessity due to the failure of a previous system)…

…The most popular motivation to install a heat pump was to be more environmentally friendly (84%). Other popular responses were taking advantage of a government subsidy (61%), saving money (54%), improving thermal comfort (29%), and improving health (12%). Not having access to the gas network or dissatisfaction with storing fuel was a motivation for 48 respondents, who indicated this using the open text response option.

It is interesting, then, to contrast the satisfaction levels of those who enthusiastically chose to install a heat pump in their home, and those who bought a house that was already fitted with a heat pump. I think the following statistics are very revealing:

People who installed a heat pump into their own home were the most satisfied (81% as or more satisfied), followed by self-builders (70% similarly satisfied). People who moved into a new build home with a heat pump were less satisfied (64% as or more satisfied), while people who moved into a house in which the previous owner had installed a heat pump were the least satisfied group (52% satisfied).

Even the enthusiasts, who actively chose to install a heat pump, demonstrate satisfaction levels of only 70-81%. More than one-third of those who were presumably agnostic on the question, but who bought a new home with a heat pump, were not satisfied – and this despite the fact that such homes should be the ones most suited to heat pump use, due to having to comply with modern Builiding Regulations standards with regard to such matters as insulation. Finally, almost half of those people who moved into a house which was not a new-build, but which had a heat pump, were not satisfied. That’s a pretty damning level of dissatisfaction.

And it gets worse. In the section of the survey dealing with limitations, it is acknowledged that:

The MCS Installations Database, alongside the EPC register, was used as a sampling frame for the heat pump survey. The database only includes installations by an MCS-accredited installer, or households on the EPC register with heat pumps installed, and does not record all heat pump installations in the UK. An MCS installation is required for homeowners to access government incentives and subsidies, meaning that some records will be for heat pumps that have not been paid for in full by the individual and have been installed by an installer that has shown a commitment to a certain level of quality and compliance. This introduces an element of sampling bias…

You can say that again. Basically the survey samples only those owners of properties with heat pumps who have gone through accredited suppliers, often accessing grant money in the process. These are the people who are least likely to have encountered problems with rogue suppliers, inadequate or problematic insulation, etc. I cannot agree with Nesta’s view that “as many domestic heat pump installations are likely to be MCS accredited, we believe the sampling bias to be small.”

When added to the small (and self-selecting) sample size, I think the survey results are highly questionable and problematic.

Conclusion

Not surprisingly the Guardian has seized on the Nesta survey as being evidence that “[m]ore than 80% of households that have replaced their gas boilers with an electric heat pump are satisfied with their new heating system, according to the first major survey of heat pump users.” I think the figures show nothing of the sort.

60 Comments

  2. Great link, Joe. I think I see the technique referred to in chapter one on display in the Guardian article and the survey. If I read on, no doubt I’ll see others.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. On page 114 of that particular pdf is an example of a situation that will be familiar to many of your readers who read about air pollution victims.

    I couldn’t Copy-‘n-Paste from that particular pdf, but a different pdf has:

    “Here is an extract from the New Yorker magazine’s “Letter from London” of January 31,1953.

    The Ministry of Health’s recently published figures showing that in the week of the great fog the death rate for Greater London jumped by twenty-eight hundred were a shock to the public, which is used to regarding Britain’s unpleasant climatic effects as nuisances rather than as killers. . . , The extraordinary lethal properties of this winter’s prize visitation” ,

    But how lethal was the visitation? Was it exceptional for the death rate to be that much higher than usual in a week? All such things do vary. And what about ensuing weeks? Did the death rate drop below average, indicating that if the fog killed people they were largely those who would have died shortly anyway? The figure sounds impressive, but the absence of other figures takes away most of its meaning.”

    Liked by 1 person

  5. A very satisfying analysis, Mark.

    I admit to a soupcon of envy as well, since in Aus the ability to find who commissions these things, as well as the exact question(s) and % responses, is simply impossible. At one point quite some years ago, a prominent daily newspaper promised to publish these details (“Cross my heart, M’Lud”) as well as its’ view on the results. This lasted exactly two surveys, when the paper then decided without fanfare that releasing such information was simply too limiting on its’ real purpose of propagandising.

    So when a phone survey turns up and one politely asks: “Who commissioned this, please ?”, the phone just goes dead. When and if the cherry-picked results are published no details are included, either on commissioning or breakdowns of responses; the exact questions asked are especially jealously guarded.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I can’t get over the photo. Is that a single heat pump or a conglomeration of heat pumps serving different properties, or what? Whatever the case, it’s hideous, amounting to the industrialisation of the urban/suburban landscape, blighting garden spaces with wires, noisy fans and other machinery. Where are people going to put their hideous wheelie bins now? If that’s a whole row of heat pumps, it’s natural to ask, will they be drawing from the same heat source (air or ground)? Because if so, it strikes me that they will be less efficient in competition with one another, surely?

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Jaime, that appears to be the case from my (superficial) understanding. The ambient air flows in through the vertical louvres and once it’s been used to evaporate the refrigerant, the colder air is shot out by the fan. If that is the case, then the units that appear to be a foot apart are indeed fishing in the same pool.

    Mark, I would guess that all homeowners would take advantage of the government grant scheme, so would therefore have to use an approved installer? The question remains how honest the respondents have been – I should not doubt them, but psychology 101 tells me that if you make a really big decision, you are under strong psychological pressure not to regret it. This is a matter that more objective questioning might be better at teasing out. That said, I know someone who fills in questionnaires in order to obtain the rewards, and who feels under no obligation to ever give a true answer.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Good analysis, Mark. The only surprise is that it didn’t find that 97% were satisfied……

    I suspect the photo is not representative. I’ve seen a few of these things locally, on individual dwellings, and all that is visible is a unit like the one mounted on the frame. The multiple grey units behind it may be unrelated.

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  9. Mike, the grey units are also evaporators, but maybe the one with the horizontal fan was added later? I’m speculating here that we are looking at a block of flats, and that at some stage, a flat owner found the existing unit inadequate and added one with more beef.

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  10. Mark,

    I am not hugely concerned about the size of the sample. Also, the bias introduced by the self-sampling (i.e. the respondents are the ones who are less likely to be self-critical regarding their decision-making), whilst a concern, is not my main one. My main concern is the bias introduced by the evaluation process required prior to installation. The fact is that there are several reasons why installation of a heat pump may not be a practicable solution for a given individual and heat pump suppliers and installers can afford at the moment to turn away those for which dissatisfaction would be guaranteed. So the question is not the percentage of those who have been satisfied so far, but what percentage will be satisfied when there is no longer a choice, and heat pumps become the only and suboptimal option. Let me take, as a specific example, the following advice given by Compareairsource.co.uk:

    “It’s important to remember that since heat pumps take longer to warm up homes compared to traditional boilers, they need a larger surface area to work with in order to reach the same temperature level. This is mainly because heat pumps generate a lower-grade heat than boilers do – averaging at around 35-40°C, compared to a boiler’s temperature of 60-65 °C. This means that heat pumps work more effectively if they’re connected to an underfloor heating system – but they also work well with radiators. Just remember that to reach a good temperature, the radiators you install will have to be larger than normal in order to increase the surface area. As a rule of thumb, you’ll need to install radiators roughly two and a half times larger than normal to provide the same heat output with heat pumps that you would with a gas boiler. On top of this, the average UK home needs to replace about one-third of its existing radiators with larger ones in order to use a heat pump.”

    That doesn’t sound to me like a recipe for 80% satisfaction once the low hanging fruit has been picked. I wonder how many of the existing users have underfloor heating systems.

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  11. The photograph does not represent reality: it’s a construct. Look carefully at the right hand side of the larger unit with the vertical fan. There is a vertical line between that unit, in the vicinity of the two pipes, and the grey unit further to the right that clearly is a boundary between two photographic images that has removed much of the dark grey unit. Elsewhere the compound image is excellently done

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  12. John Ridgeway

    ” …. the following advice given by Compareairsource.co.uk”

    Some of that advice is misleading.

    “It’s important to remember that since heat pumps take longer to warm up homes compared to traditional boilers, they need a larger surface area to work with in order to reach the same temperature level.”

    That’s only half the story. Slow-response heat pumps also take longer than swift-response boilers to enable downstream heating to reach a desired internal temperature.

    The overwhelming majority of fuel-fired boilers are rated at a minimum of 25kW output, but most can be down-rated to meet the building’s heat + hot water needs. In addition, most modern ones can also modulate down to 10% – 25% of their rated output. This minimises the pre-heat duration. That in turn minimises heat losses occurring during prolonged pre-heat periods.

    A swift-response boiler is usually ‘off’ overnight whilst occupants sleep, time-switched ‘on’ maybe an hour before occupants awaken. Likewise, they can be switched ‘off’ when a home is unoccupied whilst occupants are out at work. Underpowered heat pumps often have to run 24/7 during our coldest weather.

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  13. Joe,

    Of course Compareairsource.co.uk are part of the push to implement heat pumps, and so even when they profess to providing candid advice, they’re not really.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Thank you for all the interesting comments.

    I’m afraid I can’t offer any enlightenment regarding the picture, having simply selected it for use with the article, by searching online for a copyright-free picture – I thought the one I used looked suitably horrible!

    John R and Joe P – yes, of course, I agree with you both. Buyers’ regret is unlikely to be on evidence. True believers, as I said in the article, will be early-adopters, and are unlikely to want to admit they made a mistake. During my dissolute youth I owned and drove a Mark II Ford Cortina 1600E. It was already quite old when I owned it and it broke down not infrequently, but I loved it when it worked, would have forgiven it almost anything, and wouldn’t have heard a word against it. Of course my mind-set in that regard wasn’t entirely rational, and I suspect some owners and defenders of heat pumps will be in the same place.

    And yes, unless Government grant money is being entirely mis-spent (always a distinct possibility, of course), one might reasonably assume that heat pumps are at first being installed, by and large, in properties most suited to their use. So, even if the 80% satisfaction rate claimed in the headline was appropriate (it isn’t) it isn’t remotely reasonable to extrapolate that across the entirety of the UK’s housing stock.

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  16. Thanks for this Mark. I had read the Guardian article and thought it might be biased. We had air conditioning installed a year or so ago and had the gas furnace replaced at the same time. As heat pumps also provide air conditioning it seemed sensible to investigate a heat pump as an alternative to both an air conditioner and gas furnace. Despite the installation company promoting heat pumps on their website and with generous government subsidies we were advised against it by the installer! Basically he told us they don’t work very well.
    In the photo above the grey boxes against the wall are all outside air conditioning units housing a compressor and fan. The photo looks genuine to me as you can see the electrical connections for each unit that look exactly the same as ours. As noted by other it is probably an apartment block with separate air conditioning systems. I don’t think it is a compound image. One of the residents has opted for a heat pump (the vertical fan unit) and you can see the pipes leading into the wall.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Since the post photo has “dreamstime” all over it, I searched & found the pic origin – https://www.dreamstime.com/outdoor-air-conditioning-heat-pump-units-pumps-as-used-houses-central-heating-produces-cold-hot-image146314860

    pic caption – “Outdoor heat pumps as used in houses without central heating or air conditioning that produces cold or hot air”

    the pic still looks odd to me, if you look at the far left you see another batch.
    take it nobody sits in back garden where this photo was taken.

    @potentilla – re – “outside air conditioning units housing a compressor and fan”
    what happens when it rains?

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  18. Well it rains a lot in British Columbia in the winter but every new house being built around here has an exterior “whole house” air conditioner that looks exactly like the ones in the photo. They are designed and manufactured to operate without covers in fact you are not supposed to cover them in the winter as moisture may be trapped. I cover ours in the fall to keep the leaves out!

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  19. Mystery solved thanks Potentilla. The remaining mystery is why so many flats need air conditioning in British Columbia? Oops, sorry, silly me – the ‘climate crisis’ of course. Who can forget the record breaking NW Pacific heatwave of 2022, caused by GHG emissions? Here in Britain we don’t generally go in for air conditioning units but we do have a heat alert system now, fully operational as of today, which will no doubt save thousands of lives.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65769165

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  20. Yes, thanks potentilla – your comments do seem to have solved the mystery.

    Jaime, regarding the new heat alert system, the continuing nature of the Met Office’s religiosity on the subject stands out:

    The health alerts would help save lives, protect property and the economy “as we all work to tackle adverse weather and climate change”, he said.

    I see it’s to run all the year round, whereas the reality is that there is little if any risk from heat in the UK for more than perhaps three or four months a year. Of course, in the UK, as in much of the world, cold – not heat – is the main killer. Funnily enough, the Met Office isn’t proposing a cold alert system, so far as I’m aware. Where I live, we never lose garden plants to heat and drought. We lost quite a lot of well-established plants last winter due to the two intense cold snaps we experienced.

    There’s been a lot of fluff from the weather forecasters on the radio about the pleasant weather we are currently experiencing (“hottest day of the year to date” etc). Yes, the sunshine and modest warmth makes a pleasant break from much of our weather. Where I live its currently about 14C, with a day-time high of 19C forecast for an hour around 4pm. I don’t think my health is seriously at risk from it.

    Returning to heat pumps, we had our gas boiler serviced last month. Asking in a neutral way, I mentioned the age of our boiler and whether he recommended replacing it with a heat pump when it finally expires. His firm advice was not to do so. Despite our house being only 35 years old (and well-built for his own occupancy by a builder who built it to the highest standards then in place), he said it would cost far too much and involve too much hassle (including changing pipes and radiators). The same is true of many houses he visits. His view is that the planned UK ban on new gas boilers and their replacement by heat pumps will have to be dropped, as it won’t work.

    Liked by 2 people

  21. Mark, we got a leaflet through the door recently, promising free government grants for energy efficiency work to be carried out. We need new windows so enquired about that: not a chance, even though replacing our old double glazing would make the house much more energy efficient. But we could apply to get a new ‘energy efficient’ condensing gas boiler fitted. Yes, I’m sure that would lower the emissions from our house SO much more than having new double glazing fitted (not)! So, we’ll be sticking with the old, perfectly functioning and probably very efficient ‘old’ gas combi, plus the energy inefficient 30 year old double glazing.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. “The great heat pump hype is almost dead
    They are horrendously expensive to install, and as a nation we seem not to have the plumbing skills to install them properly”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/01/the-heat-pump-hype-is-finally-dying/

    Has a product ever looked and sounded so boring yet excited such passions as the domestic air source heat pump? It might be a dumpy white box with a fan, but for some people it is the device which is going to save human civilisation by decarbonising one of the big sources of emissions: home heating. For many others it looks like a con – an expensive and substandard piece of kit which the Government is forcing down our throats as it panics about trying to fulfil its foolish, self-imposed target of hitting net zero by 2050.

    For those in the former camp, a new report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) does not make comfortable reading. The CMA looked at the marketing of heat pumps and other products and concluded that some buyers are at risk of being misled. It looked at claims made by a sample of businesses on websites and other advertising and found that in only a fifth of cases were claims backed up by evidence. Among them, for example, was a claim that “you can save up to £1335 with an air source heat pump”. It also warned that claims about the environmental and cost-saving benefits of these products are not always based on “real world” conditions, such as the weather or the size of homes.

    The truth is that whether you will save money running a heat pump depends on what you are replacing it with, and on the relative price of electricity versus the fuel you are currently using. Even the Government’s energy quango, the Energy Savings Trust, doesn’t hold out the prospect of great savings. Replace a new A-rated gas boiler with an air source heat pump and you might save £115 a year, it claimed. Replace a new A-rated oil boiler with a heat pump, it said, and it could cost you an extra £130 a year. It is only if you are replacing a 30 year old boiler or storage heaters that you can expect to save hundreds of pounds a year on running costs.

    But all that depends on the heat pump being installed properly – something which some aggrieved customers are finding has not been done in their case. One Telegraph reader last week complained of spending £20,000 installing an air source heat pump, supposedly with a seven-year year manufacture guarantee and a two-year guarantee through the company that had installed it. When it broke down, it turned out the installer had gone bust.

    There, encapsulated in one case study, is the problem with heat pumps. They are horrendously expensive to install, and as a nation we seem not to have the plumbing skills to install them properly at anything like the rate the Government is trying to get us to – it is seemingly aiming for 600,000 a year by the end of the decade.

    The CMA report in question is this:

    Click to access Consumer_protection_in_the_green_heating_and_insulation_sector_-_Final_report.pdf

    Green heating and insulation products typically involve high upfront costs – eg the average price of solar panels ranges from £6,000 to £11,000, plus installation costs. Products can also be technical and complex, and in the case of newer products such as heat pumps, unfamiliar to most people. As a
    result, people are likely to feel uncertain when they shop for green heating and insulation products and so are more vulnerable to being misled or exploited by businesses….

    …Information gaps and asymmetries pose particular challenges early on:

    (a) It is difficult to find reliable, trusted and independent information and advice – consumer respondents consistently highlighted that it was hard to find the information they needed to make decisions, a finding which was supported by other evidence (eg consumer surveys). People often did not know where to start, typically going online and then struggling to assess the credibility of the information they found.

    (b) Available information is complex and hard to understand – if people do find accurate information, it is often overwhelming and difficult to assess. This might reflect the technical nature of the product and/or lack of familiarity with the product.

    (c) There are often limitations in the information from businesses – for some people, the challenges of finding credible information/advice led them to rely on businesses. While businesses can provide valuable insights, we found that information provided by businesses was not always up to scratch (as set out in the following section) and note that businesses are not necessarily incentivised to provide impartial advice to consumers.

    In the face of these difficulties, there is a significant risk that people either are put off from buying green heating and insulation products or end up making poor decisions if they do go ahead. Not only will this undermine consumer confidence and take-up of these products, with impacts on achieving Net Zero, but it can also lead to consumer harm….

    Liked by 2 people

  24. “Government heat pump scheme misses first year target”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66033199

    A flagship government plan to make household heating more planet-friendly has had a weak start in its first year.

    The Boiler Upgrade Scheme gives out £5,000 grants to help households switch to heat pumps, which burn much less of the carbon which warms our atmosphere.

    It is meant to issue 30,000 grants annually in England and Wales but only managed half that in its first year.

    Experts blamed a lack of installers and the cost of properly insulating homes so that they are ready for a heat pump….

    “Experts” would say that, I suppose. Nothing to do with the costs involved, and the fact that many people don’t want them, not least because their homes aren’t suitable for them. The BBC opened the article up to a “Have Your Say”. The highest-rated comment is:

    ‘m pretty sure at the moment, spending £thousands on “upgrading” a heating system isn’t high on people’s to-do lists.

    Also:

    With a cost of living crisis in full swing, why would you upgrade unless you needed to? And if you needed to, why spend £10-15k on a ASHP if you can spend £3-4k on a conventional boiler?

    Like

  25. “UK installations of heat pumps 10 times lower than in France, report finds
    Analysts call on government to make pumps mandatory for all new homes and scale up grants for installation in existing properties”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/17/uk-installation-heat-pumps-report

    The UK is lagging far behind France and other EU countries in installing heat pumps, research has shown, with less than a tenth of the number of installations despite having similar markets.

    Only 55,000 heat pumps were sold in the UK last year, compared with more than 620,000 in France. Twenty other European countries also had higher installation rates than the UK…

    …At current rates, the UK has little chance of meeting the government’s target of 600,000 heat pump installations a year by 2028. However, according to analysts from the MCS Charitable Foundation, which approves low-carbon certification standards, gearing up to do so could create 50,000 new jobs, up from only about 2,000 jobs in the industry today.

    The MCS report, titled Heat Pump Rollout in France and the UK 2023, called on the government to make heat pumps mandatory for all new homes, scale up and extend grants to install heat pumps in existing homes, introduce new loan schemes for homeowners, and embark on a countrywide awareness campaign to explain heat pumps and the incentives on offer.

    The existing boiler upgrade scheme must be extended to be effective, the report said, and ministers must bring in the long-awaited future homes standard from 2025, with a clear end-date for the sales of gas boilers….

    In other words – “you will have them whether you want them or not, and whether via your taxes which will pay for the grants, or via loan repayments (since they’re unaffordable up front for the vast majority of people) you will pay for them too. We know what’s best for the little people.”

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  26. Predictable. They gave up on hydrogen boilers so now they’re doubling down on heat pumps. It would be absolute madness to mandate heat pumps in all new housing in the British climate, but that hasn’t stopped them in the past – insanity is hard-wired into Net Zero policy. How long before they start talking about switching off the gas supply to entire areas? Then, if you haven’t taken up the offer of ‘very generous’ subsidies to install a heat pump, tough, you can just freeze your bits off. My house has been identified by the government as being one of the ‘least energy efficient in the country’, so they keep trying to get me to accept ‘Green grants’ for the installation of a heat pump or more efficient condensing boiler, when in fact a grant for new double-glazing would be by far the most cost effective way to increase the heat efficiency of the property, but it’s all about ‘sustainable heating targets’ not common sense. Institutionalised and governmental idiocracy is what we’re dealing with.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. Mark – you’ve done it again – had to look up “MCS Charitable Foundation, which approves low-carbon certification standards” – https://www.mcscharitablefoundation.org/
    from the head post –
    “The MCS Charitable Foundation
    MCS Charitable Foundation is a new organisation with big ambitions.
    Our vision is a world where everyone has access to affordable and reliable renewable energy and low carbon technologies – for the benefit of our environment, our communities and the general public.
    As a Foundation we work to increase public confidence, awareness and access to renewable energy and low carbon solutions across the UK. We support education and engagement programmes, fund research and facilitate innovative solutions to drive widespread adoption.
    In addition, the Foundation oversees the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) which defines, maintains and improves quality standards for renewable energy at buildings scale.”

    also, on the “people” link, we find the heat pump story origin I think –
    “Research Assistant Jenny Russon
    Jenny joined the team in December 2022 as a Research Assistant for the external affairs team, responsible for contributing to the scientifically-backed research which supports the campaigns and advocacy for both the MCS charity and the MCS scheme.
    This position is kickstarting Jenny’s career in the environmental sector and advocacy. She has a BA in French from the University of Leeds, and was heavily involved in the Environmental society, where she organised sustainable awareness campaigns on campus and events such as clothes swaps.
    In September 2021, after extensively travelling and working abroad, Jenny studied for an MSc at the University of East Anglia in Environmental Sciences.

    Jenny had a unique opportunity of combining these two disciplines when carrying out a qualitative study for her MSc dissertation. In this, she compared heat pump diffusion in France and the UK since 2008 and interviewed both French and English stakeholders. The study aimed to identify lessons that could be learnt from France’s heat pumps success, as the UK strives to reach its ambitious target of 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028. This experience, learning the complexities and challenges of home efficiency and decarbonisation, has sparked a deeper interest in this subject area and she is very excited to join the team and contribute to bringing about positive change in this ever-important sector.”

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  28. Dougie,

    Sorry that your post was trapped for a while, before I found it and set it free. I loved this:

    In September 2021, after extensively travelling and working abroad, Jenny studied for an MSc at the University of East Anglia in Environmental Sciences.

    It’s the extensively travelling abroad bit that amuses me.

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  29. Mark – what amuses & at the same time makes me despair, is it’s another so called charity –
    “MCS Structure and History
    The Microgeneration Certification Scheme was originally set up by the UK Government in 2008 to maintain and promote standards in home-grown renewable energy. The scheme has played an important part in the growth of the installation of renewables in homes and small businesses in the UK.
    In April 2018 the Government completed a process of making the scheme independent, setting up MCS Charitable Foundation and transferring ownership of the scheme to the Foundation.
    MCS Charitable Foundation is now the sole shareholder of MCS Company, which runs the quality and standards scheme. The Foundation uses the business surpluses from the Company to fund its charitable work and grant-giving programme.”

    ps – i’ve applied for a job with them, just to test the salary they offer.

    maybe Jaime should ask for a new double-glazing grant from them.
    oops – better read the – https://www.mcscharitablefoundation.org/funding

    Like

  30. dfhunter,

    I have long thought it’s way past time we reviewed the hugely sweeping definition of charity in the UK, which is why I wrote, over two years ago now, this:

    Big ‘Green’ Charity

    Like

  31. “Heat pumps: Lords slam ‘failing’ green heating scheme”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64710225

    The government’s flagship green heating scheme has been described as “seriously failing” by a Lords inquiry.

    The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants households £5,000 to help switch from a gas boiler to a low-carbon heat pump.

    On Wednesday, the Lords Climate Change Committee said grant take-up is so low the national target for green heating is “very unlikely to be met”.

    The government responded by saying it would launch a marketing campaign to make people more aware of the scheme…

    …The Boiler Upgrade Scheme was meant to kick-start the heat pump industry in England and Wales, and reduce the cost of installation for homeowners.

    But in her letter to the government, Baroness Parminter, chair of the Lords Committee, heavily criticised ministers for not doing more to raise awareness of the scheme – which is on track to issue just half of the allocated grants.

    She told the BBC: “The scheme isn’t working as well as it needs to. It is absolutely critical that the government boosts public awareness… we need to give people the confidence to know about why these changes are important.”…

    It never seems to dawn on these people that lack of publicity for the scheme isn’t the problem. The problem is that people know that heat pumps – even after receipt of a grant – are expensive, and that’s money that they can’t afford during a politically-caused cost of living crisis. The public don’t want heat pumps. If they did, they wouldn’t look a gift horse (a £5,000 grant) in the mouth.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. “We just can’t understand it. Why aren’t the ruddy peasants taking up the offer of making themselves poorer and colder? It must be because we haven’t sufficiently drummed into the ignorant peasants the indisputable benefits of saving the planet by curtailing the carbon emissions of the ignorant peasants.”

    Like

  33. “Low Uptake of Heat Pumps in the UK Raises Concerns about Affordability and Viability”

    https://www.energyportal.eu/news/heat-pumps-are-only-for-the-privileged-says-britains-gas-chief/107158/

    The CEO of National Gas, Jon Butterworth, has expressed concerns about the affordability and suitability of heat pumps in the UK. Butterworth stated that electrification and the use of heat pumps may be perceived as options only available to the privileged, and that there is a need for more affordable alternatives for hardworking families.

    The UK government has been advocating for the widespread adoption of heat pumps as part of its efforts to achieve net zero emissions. However, the public uptake of heat pumps has been poor, with only 2% of heating systems sold in the UK in 2021 being heat pumps, the lowest share in Europe.

    One of the challenges with heat pumps is the high upfront costs of installation and the need for upgrades to ensure their effectiveness. Heat pumps require well-insulated homes to operate efficiently, which can result in additional expenses for homeowners.

    Butterworth emphasized that heat pumps cannot be a viable option for all households and that there is a need for a more diverse range of affordable alternatives. He believes that hydrogen is the future for the UK’s gas network and that it can be used to heat homes by repurposing natural gas boilers.

    While hydrogen has the potential to be carbon-neutral and can provide a solution for heating, it is still an expensive and nascent technology. Infrastructure would need to be adapted to accommodate the smaller molecules of hydrogen gas. In addition, there have been challenges in public acceptance of hydrogen, as seen in the cancellation of a hydrogen boiler trial in Whitby due to local opposition.

    Butterworth highlighted the importance of a joined-up energy system and the need for gas in times of low renewable energy generation. He argued that gas will continue to be essential, especially during the winter months.

    The adoption of heat pumps across Europe has also been slow, implying that affordability and viability are common concerns. The transition away from gas boilers, which currently heat 85% of British homes, presents significant challenges. The focus on energy efficiency in new-build properties may result in better-equipped homes for heat pump installations, but a solution for existing homes is still needed.

    Like

  36. Jaime, interesting comments over at your place, thanks for the link.

    Meanwhile:

    “The truth about heat pumps and the power needed to run them”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66359093

    The article appeared three hours ago. Given what may (or may not) be a seismic change with regard to net zero in UK politics, Mr Rowlatt seems to be off the pace:

    The way we heat our homes is changing.

    As the world moves away from fossil fuels, we will be saying goodbye to our gas fires and boilers – and instead electrifying the heating systems in our homes….

    Or, perhaps it could be categorised as misinformation, since the world is using more fossil fuels than ever, and certainly isn’t moving away from them.

    Nevertheless, a hint of reality is buried in the article:

    …Heat pumps produce hot water at lower temperatures than gas boilers.

    That means to get the heat into your home, it is a good idea to have bigger radiators.

    And you will keep more of the heat in if your home is well-insulated and has double glazing. But doing that additional work can massively add to your costs.

    Typically it costs £10,000 to buy and install a heat pump.

    And there is another issue.

    Unit for unit, electricity typically costs three times as much as gas.

    That means even though your new heat pump is three times as efficient as your gas boiler it costs about the same to run….

    …There were just 60,000 heat pumps installed in the UK last year, making it one of the slowest adopters of this new technology in Europe.

    At current rates of installation, it will take more than 400 years before every British home has a heat pump.

    So far fewer than 12,000 grants have been cashed – perhaps because it only covers the cost of the pump itself, and not the installation.

    And even if households are able to pay, there is another barrier to hitting the government’s heat pump targets.

    The UK only has 4,000 trained heat-pump installers – it is estimated we will need 33,000 by 2028….

    Liked by 1 person

  37. Mark,

    “Unit for unit, electricity typically costs three times as much as gas.

    That means even though your new heat pump is three times as efficient as your gas boiler it costs about the same to run….”

    This is only true when the coefficient of performance of the heat pump is between 3 and 5. Below that, it becomes more expensive to run a heat pump vs. a gas boiler. That’s not taking into account the capital costs of replacing your perfectly functioning gas boiler with a heat pump. This graph clearly shows that COP falls dramatically when the outside temperature drops, especially if you want hot water in your radiators vs. luke warm (35C):

    In practice, you will need to install very large, efficient custom made radiators at great expense in order to benefit from the lower water temperature supplied by the heat pump in order to start reaping the theoretical benefits of the increased heat efficiency of heat pumps vs. gas boilers. But the economics and the physics combined just don’t stack up, especially for climates like the UK, more especially for the northern UK.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. But the standard of insulation in Scandinavian houses is much greater than in British ones.

    Like

  39. Bill,

    Britain’s drafty old Victorian and Edwardian (and even older) housing stock is NEVER going to come up to modern insulation standards, no matter how many expensive retrofits one tries. Attempting to bring them anywhere near that standard will often result in damage to the fabric of the building itself. Victorian houses were designed to breathe; draftiness is a feature, not a bug.

    Liked by 2 people

  40. There’s a lot of news about heat pumps on the BBC at the moment. PM on Radio 4 yesterday evening presented only the pro-heat pump side of the story (interviews with Scottish people who were apparently thrilled by their heat pumps), with no alternative views given (though in fairness they had interviewed the Labour peer the day before, who cost doubt on their efficacy in Scotland – yesterday was the BBC backlash). Today we have this on the website:

    “Are Scotland’s heat pump plans threatening to boil over?”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66372469

    The Scottish government is launching a consultation on plans to downgrade the energy efficiency ratings of homes with gas boilers.

    It is part of a strategy aimed at removing fossil fuels from heating in more than one million homes by 2030, a key milestone on the journey to reach a headline net-zero target by 2045.

    Zero Carbon Buildings Minister Patrick Harvie argues the change would accelerate the uptake of more environmentally-friendly central heating systems such as heat pumps….

    But then they say this:

    …But others question their suitability for many Scottish properties, and warn that homeowners could be landed with huge costs…

    …A WWF report published earlier this year said most households with oil or electric heating would see significant falls in energy bills with a switch to heat pumps.

    But the cost implications for homes with gas boilers are less clear. Although heat pumps are efficient in the way they pull heat from the atmosphere, they themselves are powered by electricity which is currently three times more expensive than gas….

    …Heat pumps are also not considered suitable for tenement buildings – which Scottish government research published this year estimates makes up 40% of Scottish housing stock.

    A government working group is currently coming up with alternative proposals on such properties….

    Has the BBC sniffed the air and sensed the way the wind is blowing? Is this the beginning of a softening-up process for a retreat from heat pumps?

    Like

  41. We used to have an oil fired boiler: Worcester-Bosch. It worked like a dream and was easy to maintain. It was nearly as cheap to run as a gas boiler, at 20p/litre for kerosene. Then the price of domestic heating oil trebled and it’s still 65p/litre today. Rural residents are being hit hard by the fantasy economics of ‘sustainability’ and net zero.

    Like

  42. “Heat pumps should not be fitted in quiet residential areas because the ‘constant humming’ could be too noisy, government ministers say”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12380189/Heat-pumps-not-fitted-quiet-residential-areas-constant-humming-noisy-government-ministers-say.html

    Heat pumps should not be fitted in quiet areas because they could cause a noise nuisance, according to official guidance.

    UK Government ministers have launched a review amid concerns the constant humming may be too noisy if hundreds of them are placed in residential areas.

    Under new rules planned by the SNP/Green Government, homes will be marked down if they have a gas boiler rather than a more environmentally-friendly alternative such as a heat pump.

    It means homeowners will pay a financial price when they try to market their property if they fail to get rid of gas boilers, while both buyers and sellers face extra responsibilities to ensure a home becomes more green.

    Last night Scottish Tory net zero, energy and transport spokesman Douglas Lumsden said: ‘The noise objection to heat pumps may seem minor compared with the enormous costs householders face and the practical difficulties of installing them in flats or rural areas.

    ‘But it’s serious enough to spark a UK Government review, and shows that heat pumps are not a magic bullet or one-size-fits-all solution….

    …The Institute of Acoustics provides guidance for ‘those thinking about purchasing a heat pump in order to avoid significant adverse noise impacts associated with their use’.

    Guidance by the professional body states that homeowners should not ‘locate [heat pumps] in quieter locations, or near sensitive amenity spaces’ and should not mount the units on a wall or roof ‘especially if they are shared’.

    Typically, an individual heat pump placed outside a home gives off a sustained hum of between 40 and 60 decibels, about as loud as a refrigerator or dishwasher.

    Experts fear that if many of them are placed in a residential area the combined noise could cause a disturbance….

    Liked by 1 person

  43. I see that in today’s Herald Patrick Barbie, the Scottish Green politician, is calling for all households with gas boilers to replace them with heat pumps. Unfortunately it’s behind a paywall, but on the short section visible on the front page on the Scottish newspapers section of the BBC website, enough is visible to be aware of the ridiculous nature of his claim that this would cut costs for all of us in the long run.

    It is accompanied by a demand that UK ministers take urgent action to reduce electricity prices. Such prices are high because of the costs of renewables, which people like Harvie insist provide all of our electricity. The fact that electricity is expensive means that the running costs of electric heat pumps are high.

    The article then quotes a study commissioned by WWF Scotland (so unlikely to be impartial) claiming that the majority of households could enjoy lower bills after fitting a heat pump, but then it turns out that it is referring only to houses currently heated by oil or electricity (gas isn’t mentioned) and then only if efficiency upgrades are made.

    What a load of drivel.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. I had an interesting conversation with a heating engineer this week since I am having major work done on my current gas central heating. I mentioned heat pumps as the government’s proposed way forward. He just laughed. He then explained to me why that can’t happen. It reminded me of a conversation I previously had with my brother, who used to be a domestic energy surveyor. He would often visit home owners who had installed a heat pumps and he told me he had yet to meet one who was satisfied with their decision.

    Green politicians need to talk to the people who know stuff.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Just as the Guardian article commenting on a survey, which prompted me to write this article, was misleading, now we get a misleading headline:

    “UK homes install ‘record number’ of solar panels and heat pumps
    Head of industry standards body says more people are turning to renewable technology as energy costs grow”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/14/uk-homes-install-record-number-of-solar-panels-and-heat-pumps

    It may be strictly accurate, but it gives a misleading impression. What, after all, is this fantastic record number of heat pump installations from a UK public happily turning to the new cheap, efficient, wonder-technology?

    … the number of homes installing heat pumps reached 3,000 a month for the first time, according to the data….

    Further on the article lets us know the real state of affairs:

    …The UK government has set targets to reach 70GW of solar capacity by 2035 and to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. But the uptake of heat pumps has fallen far short of the government’s aim, despite £5,000 grants to reduce the cost of replacing an old gas boiler.

    In total there were 17,920 heat pump installations in the first six months of 2023, according to MCS data, meaning that if the same pace continued over the second half of the year, heat pump installations would reach just 6% of the government’s target.

    The accreditation body believes that one of the biggest barriers to the government’s heat pump ambitions is the need to recruit enough qualified, skilled installers to meet the demand for trustworthy advice and installations.

    There are 1,500 heat pump installation companies certified in the UK, but an estimated 50,000 workers will be needed to meet government targets. So far this year, more than 850 new contractors have become MCS certified, more than the number who signed up during the whole of 2022.

    Beanland added: “It is essential that the lowest-carbon heat becomes the lowest-cost heat, so that homeowners and landlords can justify the transition away from polluting fossil fuels. If this is coupled to a genuine affordability and future funding package, then households will be able to contribute to climate change mitigation with confidence and at a cost that is fair to all.”

    The claim about 3,000 heat pumps being installed in a si6gnle month contained an embedded link, so I went to look at it to see the source of the information. The link didn’t provide such a source, rather it was a link to another Guardian article:

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/12/heat-pumps-uk-householders-ditching-gas-central-heating

    Its conclusion?

    The heat pump and installation cost close to £13,000, and he also had to replace some radiators at a cost of around £5,700. Richards benefited from the Home Energy Scotland scheme’s grant of £7,500 and a £2,500 interest-free loan. “The [upfront] costs must come down for this technology to be more widely adopted,” he says. “The government can reduce or switch the levies that artificially make gas so much cheaper than electricity, which would be fairer.”

    Like

  46. Meanwhile:

    “Head of climate watchdog behind boiler ban plan admits he still has gas heating in his home – saying it is ‘very difficult’ to install heat pumps in flats like his”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12401795/climate-watchdog-boiler-ban-gas-heat-pumps.html

    The chief of a climate watchdog responsible for lobbying to ban boilers has admitted he still uses gas heating in his home.

    Climate Change Committee boss Chris Stark, from Glasgow, said it was ‘very difficult’ to install heat pumps in flats like his.

    His watchdog lobbied the Government to ban installing gas boilers in new homes from 2025 and stop selling them completely from 2035.

    At the House of Commons environmental audit committee last month, Mr Stark said: ‘The capital cost of [installing a heat pump] is too high at the moment.

    ‘It can be brought down, but that will not happen unless there is scale installation and scale production.

    ‘That is one of the biggest barriers. There is not an installer community for heat pumps at the moment.’

    He added: ‘I have a gas boiler. I wish I didn’t, but I live in a flat and heat pumps are a very difficult thing to put in there.’

    He said the boiler engineer he uses thought heat pumps would ‘never work’. …

    Like

  47. Mark, those advocating heat pumps, EVs and other measures to electrify everything always fail to mention a critical point – the source of the electricity.
    As we all know, there is no excess “zero-carbon” electricity available as whatever is being generated is always fully-allocated with gas making up the balance of demand. So anything which adds to demand will increase the gas burn.
    In the case of domestic heating, a modern condensing boiler is probably more efficient than using gas to generate electricity to power a heat pump – once all the losses and inefficiencies are taken into account – despite the heat pump’s “Coefficent of Performance” advantage.
    That is without looking at the cost advantage of gas over electricity.

    Liked by 1 person

  48. “Heat pumps plan is a stealth tax, say manufacturers”

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-stealth-tax-heat-pumps-china-d9q6jtb8g

    Government plans to promote heat pumps have been attacked as a “stealth tax” on families that will harm British manufacturers while opening the door to Chinese imports.

    The domestic heating industry has warned of the “dire economic consequences” of the proposals.

    Under the planned scheme, boiler manufacturers will be fined if they do not fit enough heat pumps. From next year, the industry will have to ensure that 4 per cent of its sales are heat pumps, which use electricity to extract heat from either the ground or air. This amounts to about 68,000 heat pumps, despite only 12,000 homeowners having retrofitted one of the devices last year under the government’s £5,000 subsidy scheme. The target for 2025 is 6 per cent of sales, which is approximately 102,000 units.

    While heat pumps are a much greener technology than boilers, they cost an average of about £13,000 to install, which means homeowners face paying £8,000 even with the subsidy. A replacement boiler costs an average of £2,500. The price of electricity at present means heat pumps are also marginally more expensive to run than boilers….

    Liked by 1 person

  50. Mark, it seems the government response to the growing public rejection of eco-fascism is more eco-fascism. All stick and no carrot as Spiked says. Unless and until Net Zero legislation is repealed, this dance of fascism will continue.

    Liked by 1 person

  51. “Harvie’s heat pump vision shows the Scottish Government’s blind spot”

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23739242.harvies-heat-pump-vision-shows-scottish-governments-blind-spot/

    …Some claim the upfront cost is not a problem because heat pumps are cheaper to run than gas boilers. Unfortunately, that’s not true. The efficiency of a ground-source heat pump means it has got a decent chance of being cheaper to run than your gas boiler – but having cost potentially more than 10 times as much to install it is a challenging equation for the bill payer. The bigger problem is with air-source heat pumps, which make up the vast majority of all heat pump installations. Broadly an air-source heat pump should on average produce three units of heat for every unit of electricity it consumes. Gas is about three times cheaper than electricity but the efficiency advantage for heat pumps makes it sound like running costs would be comparable.

    Unfortunately, the deadly words in this analysis are “on average”. If you look at the efficiency of a heat pump through the year as a whole an average efficiency ratio of three is realistic but this ignores the fact that in July, when heat pumps are most efficient because the outside air is warmer, we don’t need much heat, but in January when we need a lot of heat an air-source heat pump’s efficiency ratio might be only one. Based on how we actually use our heating systems an air-source heat pump will be more expensive to run than a gas boiler.

    Another issue is that our energy distribution network could not cope if there is rapid widespread switch to heat pumps. This can be fixed but it will take time and cost many billions of pounds which somebody has to pay for….

    Liked by 1 person

  52. Mark – thanks for common sense article from heraldscotland.
    shows how “on average” can be very misleading, especially in cold winters in Scotland.

    Liked how the article ends –
    “On the supply side there is only one sensible decision. We have got to invest in at least two nuclear power stations to replace Hunterston which is already off-line and Torness which has not got many years to go. Without that, within 20 years, we will be worrying about our ability to keep the lights on and, ironically, we will be crucially dependent on England’s nuclear generation.”

    Like

  53. Dougie,

    Yes, the key paragraph for me was the one shredding the use of “on average” to justify claims about the costs of heat pumps – more efficient in summer, when they are least needed and used; less efficient in winter when they are most needed and used. If correct, it’s strong evidence that heat pumps are much more costly to run (as well as to install) than gas boilers.

    Like

  54. A recent letter in the Scottish Daily Herald:

    We need real practical solutions

    OVER the summer I have read with interest the debate on air source heat pumps but didn’t get involved. However, last Sunday Editor Catherine Salmond explained that The Herald was working hard to deliver a balanced view on the subject and invited us to continue to provide our views (“None of us can be blind to the reality of environmental damage”, August 20). With direct experience, I have decided to taken up this invitation. I will start by stating that I am neither a climate activist nor a climate denier, but I do believe passionately in energy efficiency and energy conservation.

    A few years ago (would have been a shorter time span but for the pandemic) I engaged in a project to modernise a well-built but wholly run-down sandstone tenement flat and bring it up to a standard for modern living. I committed to completing the renovation using sustainable materials wherever possible, with the entire under-floor insulated with sheep’s wool, all external walls insulated and all gas appliances and gas supply ripped out (Scottish Gas doesn’t make this easy or do it cheap) .

    My piece de resistance in the renovation was the installation of a renewable system for heat and hot water; Patrick Harvie’s air source heat pump immediately sprung to mind.

    The modernised, well-insulated ground-floor flat has its own front and back garden with ample external wall space that you would expect would be a great property for Mr Harvie’s scheme. However, after applying to several companies and being turned down immediately because the property was a flat, I eventually got a large energy company to survey the property and provide me with a quote for an air source heat pump.
    During the survey and following significant discussions with the energy company’s technical team to try to get a solution that would work, they confirmed that it was not possible to install an air source heat pump system to my property.

    Disappointed as I was, the following discussion with the technician was enlightening when he told me “don’t be too disappointed, the air source heat pumps don’t work, they would never heat a flat like this with high ceilings, the radiators would be huge and you would need an upgrade to the electricity supply as they need 45kw supply”.

    I now intend to install an electric shower, an efficient water heater and high-heat-retention heaters; all at a significantly reduced capital cost and running cost to Mr Harvie’s scheme.

    I like Mr Harvie as a politician but he needs to take proper engineering advice and offer incentives to install real practical energy efficient solutions rather than follow fashionable, expensive and impractical options provided by the uneducated climate activists.

    Tom Cassells, Ayr.

    Like

  55. “Shapps risks backlash by forcing ‘luxury’ heat pumps on households, warns energy boss
    Fears of ‘heat hammer-style’ rebellion if expensive heating systems imposed”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/sunak-risks-backlash-forcing-luxury-heat-pumps-households/

    Forcing British households to adopt “luxury” heat pumps risks triggering a backlash akin to a rebellion by Germans over the country’s boiler ban, the UK’s biggest gas network operator has warned.

    Angela Needle, director of strategy at Cadent Gas, warned that ruling out the option of using hydrogen for heating homes risked leaving consumers with just one option, heat pumps, which remained far too expensive for most households.

    She pointed to controversy in Germany over a ban on buying new gas boilers from 2024, dubbed the “heat hammer” by critics, adding: “Heat pumps are a luxury product for folks who’ve got £13,000 in the bank….

    Like

  56. Angela Needle is just upset by the fact that the government has ruled out useless hydrogen because her firm is invested in it, so she’s using the German ‘heat hammer’ rebellion to claim that UK customers should not be forced to adopt heat pumps, they should be forced to adopt heat pumps OR useless hydrogen, so they have a ‘choice’ between two inefficient and expensive ‘Green’ heating systems. It’s just one Green crony capitalist getting the hump because another Green crony capitalist is set to get all of the Green crony capitalist pie. But the public have already signalled their rejection of hydrogen via the very unpopular test bed projects being rolled out so Needle is in for a nasty shock.

    “Cadent, which serves the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, East of England and north London, is already undertaking a multibillion-pound programme to replace metal gas pipes with plastic ones that are suitable for carrying hydrogen, subject to approval from the Health and Safety Executive.

    Ms Needle said: “We want to be able to use the existing infrastructure that we’ve all paid for, which silently delivers energy all day, every day, without a huge amount of disruption.

    “And we do worry that the gas network is being ignored.”

    Her comments come after Grant Shapps, the Energy Security Secretary, said he was not convinced that piping hydrogen into millions of British homes, instead of natural gas, was a practical option.”

    Neither heat pumps OR hydrogen gas boilers are a practical option to achieve a totally impractical Net Zero. Green crony capitalists and eco-zealots just don’t get it though. They need to leave us alone to heat our homes with efficient natural gas, oil and wood-burning stoves and just sod off with the ‘planet heating carbon pollution’ nonsense or I foresee big trouble ahead.

    Liked by 1 person

  57. “The Government’s Plan to Install Heat Pumps in Homes They Won’t Work In is Branded “Desperate” and “Unethical

    https://dailysceptic.org/2023/08/31/government-plan-to-install-heat-pumps-in-homes-they-wont-work-in-branded-desperate-and-unethical/”

    A Government plan to relax rules to allow heat pumps to be installed in uninsulated homes they will fail to heat properly has been branded “desperate” and “unethical”.

    Faced with a widespread boycott of the pricey technology, ministers are hoping that they can kickstart uptake by removing the requirement that properties be adequately insulated before gas boilers are removed.

    Campaign group Net Zero Watch criticised the decision. Director Andrew Montford said:

    The insulation requirement was put in place to ensure heat pumps were only installed where they were likely to work. Removing a key consumer protection is hardly going to help the Government’s cause.

    Mr. Montford points to a recent study of heat pump economics, which shows that, even in a well-insulated property, most heat pump installations do not give lower bills, let alone justifying the substantial capital costs. This is because electricity is four times the price of gas.

    Mr. Montford said:

    The contradictions in Government policy are becoming clear. Renewables are incompatible with heat pumps because they make electricity so much more expensive than gas. In their desperation to persuade consumers to switch anyway, ministers are proposing steps that would be foolish, are arguably unethical, and would certainly be counterproductive. This is a brand of fanaticism as dangerous as Mr. Khan’s Ulez obsession.

    Yet another green technology being rejected by consumers because it is overpriced and doesn’t do the job.

    Like

  58. “How heat pumps exploded Germany’s ruling coalition
    Olaf Scholz’s government wanted to be a pioneer in climate protection. The effort has come at a very high political price.”

    https://www.politico.eu/article/heat-pumps-exploded-germany-ruling-coalition-green-law/

    The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or so many politicians in Germany’s three-party ruling coalition are now discovering.

    Germany’s parliament is set to pass a new bill on Friday to reduce the country’s carbon footprint by mandating changes to the way Germans heat their homes and buildings.

    Months of pained negotiations over the heating bill caused public infighting within Germany’s ruling coalition and sparked an unexpectedly sharp backlash across much of the country.

    While the coalition has the votes it needs to pass the law without help from opposition parties, it’s likely to prove a pyrrhic victory, with the popularity of the government now near record lows….

    …For these reasons, Germany’s new heating law has come to represent a cautionary tale with implications far beyond Germany. While many voters appear to support measures to reduce carbon emissions in the abstract, things get more complicated when it comes to mandates that concern something as personal as their own homes….

    Like

  59. Octopus appears to have invented a new ‘cosy heat pump’ which will defy the laws of physics (or economics), or both:

    Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus, said the heat pumps will be able to produce hot water at the same temperature as gas boilers, meaning households would not require new pipes and radiators.

    Most devices can currently only achieve water temperatures of around 45C, compared with at least 60C for boilers.

    This means they only work with special pipes and radiators, which has fuelled concerns about their viability.

    However, Mr Jackson said on Thursday that the new Octopus device will be different and have a “radical new design” that “ends the world of ‘ugly heat pumps’”.

    “Our heat pumps will run at up to 75C so if a household has radiators and pipes in good condition they will not need replacing,” said Mr Jackson. “ That should lead to a dramatic cost reduction.

    An air source heat pump which will supply hot water at 75C which will simply replace your old gas boiler? Sounds too good to be true.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/09/14/octopus-end-era-ugly-heat-pumps-cosy-model/

    Liked by 1 person

  60. ““As a Heating Engineer, It’s Clear Customers Will Be Left Without Heating Entirely Because They Can’t Afford a Heat Pump””

    https://dailysceptic.org/2023/09/14/as-a-heating-engineer-its-clear-customers-will-be-left-without-heating-entirely-because-they-cant-afford-a-heat-pump/

    A Daily Sceptic reader who’s a heating engineer has got in touch to say that with the approaching ban on gas and oil boilers, he can easily foresee the day when customers will be left without heating and hot water entirely because they can’t afford a heat pump.

    I have been a Heating Engineer for the last 25 years and am horrified at where our Uniparty politicians are taking us with their Carbon Net Zero lunacy. I have seen a memo from Worcester Bosch stating that it is going to be fined from 2024 if it sells more than 20,000 gas boilers or 1,000 oil boilers and as a result will have to pass the cost on to the consumer. I have completed a hydronics course and it is obvious that heat pumps are at best expensive and in a great many cases totally unsuitable for a lot of our housing stock. I can already see a situation where I attend a boiler breakdown and find that the boiler can’t be repaired and with this new legislation that the customer won’t be able to afford a new boiler or a heat pump and will be left with no heating or hot water.

    This is much the same legislation that has been foisted on the motor industry where companies will be fined for selling too many petrol and diesel cars so have pulled models such as the Ford Fiesta. We seem to be heading headlong into a Net Zero disaster that none of us voted for or were even given a choice. There is an election coming and most people seem unaware that the four main parties are all signed up to this madness.

    Ditch the ban, Sunak. It’s the right policy, it’s the popular policy. The contribution of U.K. boilers to world CO2 emissions is truly miniscule, even on official estimates. The only people who’ll complain are the green lunatics who think the world is going to end unless we follow through on such self-destructive, pointless gestures. Drop the eco-extremism and reap the rewards.

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