RENEWABLE SOLUTIONS - HEAT PUMP BENEFITS

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Using nature’s energy

Heat pumps make a significant contribution towards solving the problems associated with increasingly scarce and evermore expensive energy resources – supplying more energy than they consume by tapping into the freely available, inexhaustible solar energy stored in the earth, the ambient air or water and converting this for use in a heating system.

In fact up to 75% of the energy needed by the heating system is extracted from the environment, so the only energy required is electricity needed to drive the heat pump compressor.

Put another way, for every 1kWh of electricity used to run the heat pump, up to 4kWh of useful heat is provided, giving the heat pump an efficiency of up to 400%.

Low carbon heating solution

Whenever fossil fuels such as gas or oil are burnt, carbon dioxide is released. CO2 is the principle contributor to the greenhouse effect which is leading to long term climate change.

However as heat pumps extract as much as 75% of their heating energy from the environment, building carbon emissions for heating can be reduced by as much as 50% compared with gas fuelled heating systems – an obvious benefit when considering compliance with building regulations, planning requirements and Code for Sustainable Homes ratings.

Low running costs, low ownership costs

The considerable contribution from renewable energy sources also helps to provide running cost savings over fossil fuelled heating system as well as future proofing the system against future energy price increases.

But fuel costs are only part of the story. Unlike gas and oil based systems, heat pumps require no costly regular maintenance or annual safety inspections. And because a heat pump has a reasonable life expectancy of 20 – 25 years – typically twice that of a boiler – the investment costs can be recovered over a longer period, meaning the total ownership costs over the working life of the system are significantly lower.