Air-source heat pumps would need supplemental electric heating in the coldest parts of the UK in winter. They will not produce usable water temperatures for domestic heating during winters.
“It is easy to fool people. It is much more difficult to convince them that they have been fooled”. Confucious
If something sounds too good to be true, you can be pretty sure it is.
... central to the Climate Change Committee’s ambitions are our homes, in particular a proposed ban on the sale of all new gas boilers by 2033 and oil boilers – relied upon by people in rural areas – by 2028....
... the costs are bound to fall disproportionately on the lowest- income homeowners.
... the CCC wants gas boilers to be replaced with electric heat pumps. But these cost a lot more: between £6,000 and £16,000 for a typical air-source heat pump, according to Which.
... if you live in one of Britain’s nine million older homes with solid walls, that is just the beginning. Heat pumps operate on lower water temperatures than gas boilers. To heat a home effectively you may need to install much larger radiators and insulate the walls, too.
Solid wall insulation, again according to Which estimates, comes in at £7,400 if stuck on the inside (which makes all the rooms smaller) and £13,000 if stuck on the outside. Damp is another potential hazard: cover an old house, built without a damp course, with cladding and insulation and you are asking for trouble.
... And if you can’t pay to upgrade your home? The CCC wants the sale of all new homes which don’t come up to standard to be banned from 2028, and mortgages on them to be stopped from 2033. In other words, if you can’t spend thousands to upgrade your home, you won’t be able to sell it or continue paying a mortgage.
... All economic and social concerns are subjugated to this one target: reaching net zero emissions by 2050. We’ve seen it with diesel cars – encouraged in spite of causing deadly nitrogen oxide emissions. We’ve seen it with electric cars ...
It is easy to set targets, quite another to come up with practical measures to implement them at reasonable cost and without damaging side effects
"Long before the publication of Prof. Michael Kelly’s seminal essay on the cost to homeowners for just the Domestic aspect of the Green Industrial revolution.
I got quotes for installing a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP). Between £20k to £30k. As the author points out, I live in a small, 3 bedroom, solid masonry, Victorian end terrace cottage. Insulation would be in excess of £10k.
If internal (and I can’t do it externally because the building is listed) the house would also require complete redecoration and a new kitchen and bathroom (neither survive being ripped out well these days). Pound for pound what Prof. Kelly has estimated.
The entire central heating system would need to be replaced including underfloor pipework. Whilst we were at it, whole house ventilation would be necessary as that’s the only cure for dampness.