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A Roadmap for the Role of Heat Pumps

The HPA has launched its Roadmap for the Role of Heat Pumps.

This report, written by Ecuity under the supervision of the HPA, highlights the role that heat pumps can play in the decarbonisation of heating.

The Government has announced its target of Net Zero by 2050 without being clear about the route to get there. The key elements will need to be:

Carbon Emissions Intensity

Decarbonisation of the Grid

The UK has already made rapid progress on decarbonising the electricity grid. The graph from BEIS shows how the grams of CO2 emitted per KWhr of electricity generated has fallen dramatically since 2014, and shows the BEIS projection of how much further it is due to fall each year until 2035.

 



Decarbonisation of Heating

European Heat Pump Sales 2018

The UK has made almost no progress on decarbonising heating: over 80% of homes in the UK still burn gas for heating with the remainder mostly burning oil or LPG. Burning of these fossil fuels is the heart of the problem as burning fossil fuels yields CO2.

The only clear route to decarbonising heating is via the electrification of heating and the most efficient way to use electricity for heating is by using heat transfer: that means using heat pumps.

The UK has been very slow to adopt heat pumps compared to other European nations. Only 18,000 heat pumps were installed in the UK in 2018. Sweden, with a population of only a fifth of the UK, installed five times as many heat pumps in 2018.

Decarbonisation of Transport

The UK has made almost no progress on decarbonising transport: almost all cars, vans and lorries in the UK burn petrol or diesel and churn our CO2 from their tailpipes, as well as health hazards like particulates and nitrogen oxides. The clear route to decarbonising transport is via the electrification of transport and use of electric vehicles in place of those that use internal combustion engines for locomotion.

GSHPA welcomes the new Roadmap for the Role of Heat Pumps

GSHPA welcomes the new Roadmap for the Role of Heat Pumps report which sets a path for decarbonising heating in our route to Net Zero by 2050.

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