Heat pumps may be essential to the UK’s ambitions to cut emissions and reduce exposure to volatile energy markets, but sales are stubbornly low and take-up of the low-carbon technology is among the worst of ‘Europe.
That’s according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, which found that Finland has sold more than 40 times more heat pumps per 100,000 inhabitants than the UK. Even France, a relative newcomer to the market, has 12 times more installations compared to Great Britain.
This is despite the government’s pledge of £450m ($554m) to help people upgrade from natural gas boilers to heat pumps to meet a target of 600,000 new fittings each year by 2028. If installed ·len at the same pace as Norway by 2032 One of Europe’s leaders in heat pump sales, the technology could displace 70% of UK domestic gas use, according to ECIU analysis.
Heat pumps use electricity to draw heat from outside or underground for low-carbon home heating and hot water.
