Ok, so what's all that about, spice and heat pumps! To be fair, heat pumps aren't the most spicy thing out there, not 'sexy' really! Unless of course you like being super energy efficient, reducing your fuel bills, cutting your carbon footprint, or sticking your V's up to your gas or oil supplier!! Actually, it still may not be sexy, but giving your gas or oil supplier the V's is fun! Still, I digress.......
I was actually referring to variety being the spice of life, and as microgeneration specialists we like a bit of variety as much as the next man, or woman. This week, we've been asked to look at heat pump solutions for a mixed bag of properties. An architect that wants to heat a home and a swimming pool for one of his wealthy clients wanting a zero carbon (or close to) extension, a cricket club building a new clubhouse, and on the residential side, a detached bungalow in leafy Cheshire, and a terraced house in less leafy, but near the beach, Crosby. That's where the variety comes in, diversity you could say. Each wants to cut their energy costs and get away from reliance on gas, or in one case oil. With north sea gas in a steep decline, possibly used up as soon as 2012, and a reliance then on gas imports, it certainly looks like oil and gas prices will continue to rise, at an even faster rate than the last few years.
So what is a heat pump? Essentially it takes warmth from the air (a renewable source) and multiplies this warmth for use to generate space heating and hot water for your home or property. Yes very layman's terms, if you want more details there are FAQ's and a case study on our main website.
What's a good analogy? Hmmm OK, a heat pump is like a fruit machine that always pays out! Stay with me! Right, your gas boiler is inefficient, older ones running at 70-80% efficient, even the most modern 'efficient' gas boilers run at about 92% efficient. So, you put 1kw of energy in, and you get 0.8kw out, or to use the fruit machine analogy, you put £1 in, and get 80p back. Now, move over to the heat pump fruit machine. Heat pumps are typically 350% efficient! So you put your 1kw of energy in, or your £1, and you get £3.50 back. Not hard to see why they are more popular than gas boilers!!
Why haven't you heard of them? Because we have had cheap North Sea gas for so long. In Scandinavia and continental Europe they are well established. In 2006 alone 50,000 units were installed in France, 80,000 units in Sweden, and over 250,000 in Europe as a whole, these figures are rising too. Oh, that's another thing. If they take their heat out of the air, what about in the winter when you need heat most? Well, even at an outside temperature of -15C (minus 15) they will heat your home and hot water. 80,000 Swedes can't be wrong!
I could waffle all day long about heat pumps (or solar panels, wind turbines, rainwater harvesting......) we get excited about these things! We can bore you with detail if you wish, but probably you just want a go on the fruit machine that always pays out, and to stick your fingers up to your energy supplier? Well, whatever your driver, whatever your motivation, we can help, just give us a call. We're not Ghostbusters, just energy busters, ooh no, CO2 busters, I like that!
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A 14kw Heat pump, heating an Edwardian Manor house.