England (Commonwealth Union)_ If the UK had installed heat pumps at the same rate as Estonia, domestic gas consumption could be reduced by over a third, and gas imports might be reduced by almost a fifth.
The UK lags well behind its Northern European neighbors in the adoption of household heat pumps, despite the technology’s potential to lower energy costs, decrease gas imports, and reduce carbon emissions, according to the headline of a new research from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. The paper explains how electric heating system adoption is rising as customers strive to cut their energy costs and governments enact measures intended to minimize the use of fossil fuel boilers, which have already been replaced by around 20% of heat pumps in Europe.
For instance, in 2021, Poland and Estonia each sold 259 heat pumps per 100,000 inhabitants, 25 times and four times, respectively, more than the UK, which deployed 63 heat pumps per 100,000 people. The analysis shows that domestic gas use would be 107TWh or 34% lower than in 2021 and gas imports in 2021 could have been reduced by 19% if the UK had already installed the same number of heat pumps per 100,000 people as Estonia. The pattern is prevalent throughout most of the continent. Only 280,000 heat pumps have been installed in the UK, compared to 3.1 million in France and 1.3 million in Norway.
The UK heat pump sector, however, appears to be finally starting to pick up speed. Since the start of the year, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant program has allowed homes installing heat pumps to qualify for payments worth up to £5,000 for air source heat pumps and £6,000 for ground source heat pumps. Since the program’s inception, there have been about 900 installers participating, which has allowed some businesses to provide heat pumps at prices equivalent to those of gas boilers.
