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Government grants 'crucial to heat pump adoption'
01/06/10
Edited by Sophie Griffiths. The upfront costs and payback periods for alternative fuel energy sources like ground source heat pumps are coming down all the time, but government support remains crucial to their adoption by home owners, it has been claimed.
Stewart Purchase, director of the housing division at heat pump design and installation specialist Geothermal International, said that some of the grant programmes that had encouraged the take-up of the devices were stopped last week as the new government reviews its spending commitments.
However, there are other schemes in the pipeline, like the Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI), that could boost the use of heat pumps as they will provide funding to cover the initial cost of installation, he noted.
"That is key because without some kind of support it would be a very difficult sale because it is probably twice the cost of boiler insulation," Mr. Purchase added.
The RHI, which is set to be introduced in April 2011, will provide financial incentives to encourage the adoption of a range of renewable technologies, including air and ground source heat pumps, biomass boilers, solar thermal and renewable combined heat and power.
