At last the world has reached a consensus on the urgent need to replace the destructive fossil fuels that have powered our utilities for 250 years. The race against time is on, but human behaviour alone is not enough. Fortunately, technology has taken a commanding lead in recent years. Sources of renewable energy abound with inventions, innovations and improvements arriving every day.
It’s up to all of us to contribute, which means looking to our habits and our homes. The future of domestic heating is not in gas or coal or electricity derived from fossil reserves. Instead it lies in those forms of renewable energy that can be scaled to fit the home environment.
Air source heat pumps are among the easiest renewable options to install and maintain. And just like the traditional polluting systems they can heat both your home and your water, but with the additional benefit that many models can also be used for cooling.
How does it work?
The technology may be new but the concept is familiar. For decades we’ve lived with refrigerators, which pump away heat to induce the extreme cold needed for chilling. But, unlike a fridge, an air source heat pump doesn’t waste the heat. It puts it where it’s needed: into your home.
An air source heat pump can be employed simply to feed heated air into the home using a fan system. They can easily be powered either by wind or solar energy, which are more than equal to the task. It’s also possible to use an air source heat pump to serve your central heating system, giving you hot water, warm radiators and even underfloor heating.
But having answered the question ‘how does a heat pump work?’ it’s inevitable that you’ll also want to ask ‘what’s in it for me?’ Apart from helping you to do your bit to combat climate change, heat pump technology in combination with efficient insulation can also save you money by reducing your utility bills and keeping your maintenance costs down.
Further savings are available through the Renewable Heat Incentive, which is a green energy grant designed to reward those who adopt this environmentally friendly technology. Moreover, if you do choose to switch you can currently take advantage of government grants to subsidise the installation.
But the benefits don’t stop there. You’ll enjoy not just short-term economies, but long-term ones as well because air source heat pumps have a significantly longer lifespan than conventional equipment and come with lengthy warranties.
Compared to many of our European neighbours, the UK has until recently been slow to embrace heat pump systems. But that is all changing now, with major initiatives and financial incentives to encourage millions of households to switch and government plans to incorporate 19 million heat pumps into new builds by 2050.
Climate change is forcing the human race to change its practices and adopt a much more responsible, respectful attitude to our fragile environment. It’s time to get in early and join the pioneers.
