Thermal Pumps

Heat Pumps, most notably air source heat pumps, are fast becoming the most popular renewable heating source in the UK. Though heat pumps require electricity to run, the way that they utilize this electricity means that they are a very cost effective and environmentally friendly way to provide your hot water and space heating requirements all year round. Air source heat pumps require electricity in order to power the compressor, circuit boards, circulation pumps etc.
For every 1kW of electricity used by the heat pump unit itself, it will provide around 4kW of heat. That means that 3kW of heat is being provided completely for free so you could say that a heat pump is around 400% efficient. If you compare this with a traditional gas boiler you will see that for every 1kW of energy used by the boiler, only around 90% of the fuel is used for heating.

As well as being one of the most efficient forms of space heating available, an air source heat pump installation may also attract a government subsidy in the form of the Renewable Heat Incentive. For a 4 bedroom semi-detached property this could equate to around £1000 a year in guaranteed index linked payments.