Latest news with #heatpumps
The Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Ed Miliband sparks fears of ‘boiler ban by backdoor' as he prepares to shun gas for heating homes
ED Miliband has sparked fears of a "boiler ban by the backdoor" as he prepares to shun gas for heating homes. Industry insiders are on high alert for the Energy Secretary to today signal the end of a role for hydrogen. 1 Sources briefed on the controversial proposal, which will be subject to consultation, told The Sun that turning away from green gasses could pave the way for Britons being left with no alternative but to rip out their trusty boilers. As the Energy Secretary drives towards net zero targets, the only viable path to retaining boilers would be to replace gas with eco-friendly alternatives like hydrogen or biomethane. These greener gasses could flow seamlessly through existing pipelines and work perfectly with boilers, enabling millions across the nation to continue living as they do now. Yet Red Ed is expected to snub these options in favour of encouraging households to adopt pricey heat pumps. A source within the industry said: 'Ed Miliband is effectively telling the British public they will not be able to keep their boilers in his net zero world. 'To sneak out a decision that big during recess, when the Government knows there is no parliamentary scrutiny, is completely unacceptable.' Labour' s manifesto, led by Sir Keir Starmer, promised that 'nobody will be forced to rip out their boiler as a result of our plans.' However, a fuming insider from the gas sector accused the Government of betrayal, stating: 'This is a Government elected on a pledge not to rip out your boiler – instead they are quietly lifting them out of people's homes and hoping they won't notice.' Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, warned that Mr Miliband's push for pumps could backfire spectacularly, with consumers unwilling to shell out for the costly devices because 'they are too expensive to install for most people and cost more to run than a gas boiler.' Mr Foster said: 'Consumers can't afford or won't pay the sums required for a heat pump, even with the massive taxpayer subsidies on offer.'
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Miliband: I'll stop noise rules blocking heat pumps
Ed Miliband has vowed to stop noise rules from blocking heat pumps as he campaigns for the devices to be installed across Britain. The Energy Secretary has promised to investigate how regulations are enforced and to relax the rules if needed, saying noise issues 'remains a big barrier' to heat pump installations. Mr Miliband said: 'We're going to look at that, as to whether this is about the rules and the way they are being enforced and the knowledge of the rules. 'Often what I find on some of these planning issues, sometimes it's the rules, sometimes it's the enforcement of the rules and sometimes it's the awareness of the rules – and you've got to work out which it is. 'My overall approach would be to say where there are barriers, let's get rid of them if we possibly can. If the noise thing is a barrier, obviously subject to making sure there isn't a disturbance to people, which I don't think there will be, we should act on that.' Mr Miliband was addressing Bill Esterson, chair of the energy security and net zero committee, who said one in three heat pump installations required planning consent even in cases where the machines were producing noise comparable to a computer. The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), which sets planning standards for the devices, states that the noise from a heat pump cannot exceed 37 decibels (dB) when measured a metre away. 40dB is roughly equivalent to a quiet office or a library. Rollout struggles The Energy Secretary is pushing for Britain to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 as part of his net zero drive. Labour has already scrapped a rule requiring homeowners in England to gain planning consent to install heat pumps at least one metre away from a neighbouring property. The one-metre requirement had originally been introduced because some systems can emit a humming sound of up to 60dB, similar to the level produced by a fridge or dishwasher. Mr Miliband said that removing that rule had already 'made a difference' in terms of more widespread adoption of the technology. In an awkward situation for the Energy Secretary, his own neighbours are protesting against a five-storey residential development over concerns that its six proposed heat pumps will cause noise pollution. Justine Thornton, Mr Miliband's wife, is among those objecting to the development in their Dartmouth Park neighbourhood, calling them 'too tall, too bulky and too dense', although she did not mention anything in relation to the heat pumps. Campaigners warned that any relaxation of existing guidance could worsen noise pollution. Andrew Montford, of campaign group Net Zero Watch, said loosening restrictions around noise would 'undoubtedly lead to conflict between neighbours'. He said: 'When heat pumps are new, they tend to be relatively quiet, but as they age they can become very noisy.' John Stewart, chairman of the UK Noise Association, warned that any further easing of guidelines would 'remove the little protection residents have from heat pump noise'. He added: 'It will particularly impact lower-income people living in flats or terraced houses where inevitably heat pumps will be very close to their homes. 'Miliband would be much better insisting on high-quality heat pumps rather than loosening restrictions on them.' A government spokesman said: 'We have seen incredible innovation in heat pump design over the past decade, with technological advances meaning they have become quieter over time and noise complaints are rare. 'We have announced changes to remove planning constraints to make them easier to install and will review their impact to explore how we can further streamline the planning requirements to support heat pump take-up.'
RNZ News
6 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
What's the cheapest way to heat your home?
The cost of heating your home makes up about a third of what you pay for power each month. Photo: 123RF If you're spending your evenings in front of a heater, you might be keeping a wary eye on your power bill. The cost of heating your home makes up about a third of what you pay for power each month. But what's the cheapest way to do it? Here's an overview of how the various options compare. They can have a high upfront cost, but Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority lead adviser on energy efficient appliances Gareth Gretton said heat pumps were "by far and away" the most efficient form of heating. Depending on how much you're charged for electricity, it might cost you about 25 cents to 35c an hour to run your heat pump, for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of heat produced. A 6kw heat pump would cost $1.50 if you're paying 25c per kWh. Consumer estimates that a very large heat pump might cost $1000 a year but a small one could be less than $200. But they will deliver much more heat for that cost than a standard electric heater of the same size. "I think most people know now they're really magic at transforming electricity into heat. They take heat from outdoors and effectively put it indoors, they sort of upgrade the heat that exists outdoors, even when it's below 0°C, and turn it into useful, comfortable heat indoors," Gretton said. He said, for every unit of electricity that a heat pump used, it would give three or four units of heat. "There's literally nothing else that can provide that efficiency other than a heat pump." He said New Zealand was unusual in that its houses tended to be relatively badly insulated. "Heat pumps do get a little bit less efficient when you have colder temperatures outside but it's not a huge problem because in New Zealand what we end up doing is quite a lot of heating when it's not cold outside by international standards … say 5°C to 10. Heat pumps are really efficient in that sort of temperature range." Consumer recommends running a heat pump no higher than 21°C and turning the fan up rather than the temperature if you want to heat a room quickly. Healthy Homes standards don't require landlords to install a heat pump in rental properties, although many have. They are only required to provide a fixed, safe and efficient heating source for the main living room. Whether it's better to leave your heat pump on all the time or turn it off when it's not needed is a subject of debate. Some people argue it costs more to warm up a room than if it was kept at temperature all day. But James le Page, who has looked into the issue for Consumer, said turning it off made more sense. "For the few people who have a house that is super airtight - so with no gaps around doors and windows, insulation above building code requirements, double glazing, thermal drapes and a ventilation system - they might be able to leave their heat pump on all day every day," he said. "But for most of us in New Zealand, if we leave it on, we'll be wasting a lot of energy on heat that will continuously leak out, as our heat pump works hard to maintain the set temperature." In general, electric heaters all cost the same to run, for the amount of heat they produce. "Any form of resistance electric heating - what I mean by that is where you pass electricity through a plug-in heater and what it's doing is the device is resisting the flow of electricity - will transform electricity into heat with a ratio of one to one," Gretton said. "There's ultimately no difference in the electricity to heat conversion efficiency of any type of electric resistance heater, they're all the same." But he said they could vary in effectiveness. Radiant heat could be good for a large area or a room with high ceilings, for example. "If you're within the range of the heater, you're kind of feeling that heat and you can be a little bit more comfortable at a slightly lower air temperature. It's a bit like the campfire effect. If you're outside and it's pretty cold but you're near a campfire which is tremendously hot then you feel that heat." Consumer said portable fan heaters were good option in small or occasionally used rooms, such as offices or bedrooms, even though they were relatively expensive to run. "But, with a maximum heat output of 2400W, they don't have the power to tackle anything beyond very small living areas." A 2kW heater running for five hours a day would typically cost about $2.50 a day while a 1200kW radiant heater with three bars could cost $1.50. In general, electric heaters all cost the same to run, for the amount of heat they produce. Photo: 123RF You might use a dehumidifier to take the moisture out of a room, but it could also increase the temperature by a few degrees, which might be sufficient if it's a room you're only going to sleep in. "You can sort of regard a dehumidifier as being a plug-in electric heater with the advantage that it will also make your house drier," Gretton said. "It's a bit of a win-win because all the electricity that goes into your dehumidifier will actually be helping to heat your house. They're a good thing in that sense." A compressor dehumidifier, which is the most common type in New Zealand, costs about 5c an hour to run. Gretton said gas heating was not an effective option. He said people should steer well clear of unflued gas hearers anyway, because they made a house damp and emitted gases such as nitrogen oxide. "There's an absolute mountain of good reasons why unflued gas heaters are a bad idea. With flued gas heaters, there's no direct health impact but you do have a bit of an efficiency loss so you're not going to be getting one unit of heat for every unit of gas you're burning." Gretton said wood burners tended to be less efficient than gas heaters. "It's quite tricky to burn wood both cleanly and efficiently. There's a trade-off between making wood burners efficient and making them clean burning in the sense of lower particulate emissions. "I think a lot of people assume that wood burners are really cost effective to run, but it really depends on how much you're paying for firewood. Now, for those people that do have free firewood, that's obviously pretty hard to compete with in terms of cost to run because it's basically zero other than the amount of time you'll spend cutting and chopping wood. "But if you're buying firewood, then it's not particularly cost effective, although it does vary around the country." He said, at a rough average national rate, it was still usually more expensive than a heat pump. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Heat pump handout? It'll take 25 years to get your money back
Ed Miliband could offer homeowners with heat pumps £200 off their bills - meaning it would take around 25 years to pay off the upfront cost. The Energy Secretary would offer the grants to reduce the running costs of the green technology, under plans to phase out gas boilers. Heat pumps typically cost around £5,000 once a taxpayer-funded subsidy of £7,500 is applied, so it would take decades to recoup the upfront cost through savings to bills. Under the plans, all homes with heat pumps would see an average fall in energy bills of 15 per cent, paid for by taxpayers. And the money would come from the £13.2billion 'warm homes' fund agreed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the spending review last month. Industry figures are understood to have put forward the submissions to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to incentivise homeowners to quit gas boilers. The cost of electricity per unit for consumers is about four times higher than gas, which can make heat pumps more expensive to run. An additional £200 off bills could help to plug this gap. This could be funded through a levy on gas bills, covered by a Government fund. The cost to taxpayers would increase each year if more houses install heat pumps. There could also be support for the 300,000 households that have already got the technology, and taxpayers could completely cover the cost of heat pumps for low-income families. A Labour source said the proposals were not under active consideration by the department but were requests from the industry. However, they added that Mr Miliband is looking to help those who do want to install the environmentally-friendly technology. Heat pumps produce three to four times the energy they use, making them much more efficient than a gas boiler, but they also have a far higher upfront cost. The UK's climate change committee said earlier this year that half of homes should have pumps installed by 2040 to meet the country's legal goal of net zero emissions by 2050, up from about only 1 per cent now. There will be a consultation on the plans in October, according to The Times, and a Bill would need to pass through Parliament to enact them. A spokesman for the Department for Energy said: 'We do not recognise this speculation. Our clean energy mission is the best route to bring down bills for good.' Meanwhile, the Conservatives announced they would remove blocks on building new nuclear power plants to lower bills if they win the next election. They said the current 'green tape' adds millions of pounds to project costs.
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Air con grants to be rolled out to homeowners - but you need a heat pump
British households could be allowed to claim £7,500 to install air conditioning heat pumps in their homes, under plans being considered by ministers. The boiler upgrade scheme, which supports homeowners to replace outdated boilers, is currently restricted to heat pumps which cannot pump cool air. If the scheme is amended to include grants for air-to-air heat pumps, homeowners could benefit from carbon efficient heating in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer, campaigners say. Labour is considering amending the scheme to allow claims for the dual heat pumps, the i newspaper reported. Britain Remade, a pro-growth campaign group, has launched a petition calling for the Government to allow all new homes to have air conditioning installed, as well as extending grants to cooling heat pumps. The organisation wrote: 'Summer's never been hotter. Electricity has never been cleaner. It's time to ditch the anti-air con rules, written for a world where summer was 25C and our electricity was coal-powered.' In London, plans from Mayor Sadiq Khan make it clear that 'passive ventilation should be prioritised' over air conditioning, which is said to be less desirable due to 'significant energy requirements'. Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said in a video on social media that: 'This is a poverty mindset that we need to get away from. Our energy policy should fit what people want to do, not the other way around. 'We have to make Britain cool again.' Electricity blackouts Air conditioning has become a hot topic following a series of heatwaves across the country in June and July, which saw temperatures reach 35.8C in Kent on July 1. The number of households using air conditioning units jumped from 3pc to 20pc between 2011 and 2022, according to a study published earlier this year. But traditional air conditioning units, which are common in hotter countries including the US and across Europe, can put extra strain on the electricity grid and cost homeowners thousands of pounds a year. The devices are expected to increase power demand by 45pc by 2050, leading to fears of electricity blackouts as power stations struggle to cope. Predicted overspend Heat pumps, which are the backbone of the Government's Net Zero policy, can cost up to £13,000 to install. The boiler upgrade scheme, which was launched in May 2022 by the previous Conservative administration, provides up to £7,500 towards their installation. In its first year, the scheme spent just a third of its allocated budget, although it is predicted to overspend in this tax year. Nearly £2bn has been budgeted for the scheme until March 2028. But despite a Government target of 600,000 installations a year, since the beginning of 2024 just 365,397 have been installed, according to the MCS Foundation. Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported that the Government's chief new-zero advisor had admitted that it was unclear whether the green devices saved households money. A meeting chaired by Professor Dame Angela McLean found it was 'not currently clear' if heat pumps were cheaper to run than a traditional gas boiler. The report, published on Wednesday, said heat pumps represented 'a major financial decision and long-term commitment,' adding 'it is not currently clear that heat pumps will save people money'.
