The Environmental Audit Committee have opened an inquiry into heat pump uptake.

EAC inquiry: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/environmental-audit-committee/news/119981/mps-to-consider-the-merits-and-drawbacks-of-rolling-out-heat-pumps/

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) will look at electrical, gas and hybrid heat pumps, marking the next phase of its Technological Innovation and Climate Change inquiry.

The technology could play a major role in decarbonising heat, which in domestic, industrial and commercial settings currently accounts for over a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Committee on Climate Change has said that to meet the commitment to reach net-zero by 2050, 19 million heat pumps will need to be installed and that hybrid heat pumps should be widely used by 2035.

The Prime Minister has recently spoken on the role ground-source heat pumps could play in the ‘green industrial revolution’, and in its report, 80% of Climate Assembly UK members agreed that heat pumps should play a role in getting the UK to net-zero.

However, there are current limitations to rolling out the technology. For example, heat pumps are currently more expensive that conventional options such as gas-fired boilers. A report, published last week by the UK Energy Research Centre, highlighted record sales of gas boilers last year, with current rates suggesting it will take 700 years for the UK to move to low-carbon heating. Electrical grids would also need to be significantly expanded to facilitate the extra capacity that electric heat pumps would require.

 

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board member organisations

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