Are heat pumps the future? With the average cost of buying and installing a heat pump in the UK at £12,500, four or five times that of a gas boiler, Jillian Ambrose the Guardian’s Energy correspondent looks at the claims and counter-claims about the devices that are central to the government’s vision of a ‘home update revolution’.
It examines the following questions: ‘Heat pumps are dearer to run than gas boilers’; ‘They don’t work at freezing temperatures’; ‘You will need to spend a lot insulating your home’; ‘Heat pumps may be a noise nuisance to neighbours’; ‘Heat pumps cannot be installed in older properties’; ‘You will need to spend a lot insulating my home’ and ‘Heat pumps could cause blackouts’.
The government hopes that 600,000 heat pumps will be installed in our homes each year by 2028. The government’s boiler upgrade scheme offers household £7,500 to help buy and install a heat pump.
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