Environmental Audit Committee – technological innovation & climate change: heat pumps

1. Robert Lowe, 2. Mike Fell

1. CREDS responded to the call for evidence from the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee on technological innovation, climate change and heat pumpsOpens in a new tab

CREDS’ response makes some practical suggestions to improve the uptake of heat pumps (e.g. amending building and planning regulations, improving skills training) and discusses the scope to use hybrid heat pumps (which switch between conventional gas and electricity, depending on fuel availability) as a step to a fully net-zero economy by 2050.

2. CREDS’ researcher Michael Fell submitted a personal contribution to the Committee which he has kindly let us share here. This response refers to the results of a field trial of heat pumps with demand response. It draws on the findings to propose the following measures to support positive user experiences:

• close monitoring to ensure heat pumps are properly installed, and common points of dissatisfaction recognised and acted on
• clear installation guidance that takes account of future demand response requirements
• supporting the understanding of differences in operation of heat pumps compared to gas boilers.

Banner photo credit: Alireza Attari on Unsplash