Residential //
Heat Pumps
Low Carbon Sources
The average household generates 2,745 kg of CO2 emissions from heating, which means that overall housing contributes around 31% of the UK total emissions. To reach the UK’s Net Zero 2050 target we need to reduce heating emissions by 95%.
This level of reduction requires a substantial shift in heating technologies towards renewable energy. We cannot reduce carbon emissions from heating sufficiently if we continue to use natural gas or oil to heat our homes. Natural gas and inefficient electric heating in buildings can be phased out and replaced by a combination of; insulation, individual heat pumps and district heating. Use of excess heat, thermal storage and heat from renewable sources will further reduce both costs and carbon. Analysis shows that almost all of the heating and cooling demand can be covered using low carbon sources.
In all the scenarios and predictive models heat pumps have a major role to play as they are the most scalable solution that is available right now. Heat pumps offer; flexibility on input fuel prices, no on site emissions or air pollution, minimal or no infrastructure upgrade and highly integratable with other technologies.