People thinking about going green with to heat their homes are being encouraged to install a heat pump system by the Scottish Government.
Green Carbon Zero Buildings Minister Patrick Harvie is leading the charge to have old gas boilers consigned to the scrap heap in favour of technology which vastly reduced emissions.
The latest plan is to require anyone applying for a grant to install solar panels to also have a heat pump installed.
While this may seem to fly in the face of attempts to get Scots to switch to renewables, Mr Harvie says that too few applications are for homes with traditional fossil fuel boilers – which won’t cut down emissions fast enough.
Heat pumps warm homes by circulating hot air drawn from the atmosphere and produce more heat than the electricity they burn. Crucially, they do not require gas or oil to run.
What do you think? Would you switch to heat pump?
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Mr Harvie warned that there is a need to be “focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support” the strategy to decarbonise homes, adding that “funding is being targeted at measures which will have the biggest impact on reducing emissions from heating homes”.
The Minister said: “A solar PV system and battery storage system would not support a household reducing demand for gas if it is installed in a home heated by a gas boiler.
“Solar PV and energy storage can reduce overall energy bills for consumers with other forms of heating such as oil and gas but they do not specifically contribute to reducing the energy required to heat homes.”
He added: “We have reviewed funding to ensure that we are focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support the heat in buildings strategy aims.”
“Solar PV and energy storage systems will continue to be funded through the scheme, but only where installed alongside a certified renewable heating measure, such as a heat pump, or where there is already one in place.
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