The headline doesn't match the article: of the three people interviewed, the first loved it, but taxpayers paid for hers. The second liked it, but doesn't know if he'll ever make the money back, and the third didn't like it.
I (self installed) a heat pump and I love it.<p>Sure, it's not really efficient (COP ~1.5) when it's -10C outside, but this happens 1 day per year. Most of the time the COP is around 4: that means that it uses 1kWh of electricity to produce 4 units of heat. My electricity kWh is .17cts, so the final heat kWh is ~ 0.17/4 = 0.04cts, which is awesome.<p>Using france's electricity production mix, that means that I can heat my house for 60/4 g/kWh = 15gCO2/kWh.
I'm a fan of heat pumps, but as a Canadian living in the UK I think the _first_ steps should be things like finding and patching up drafts, using double-glazed windows with low-e coatings, and improving insulation.<p>Those will let you get the most out of an efficient heat pump.
Live in rural England and have a heat pump with 7kW of solar PV and 16kWh of battery.<p>Any outdoor temperature around 10 degrees the, heat pump keeps the house at 20C using about 1kW of power and is only drawing power for half the day. Warmer than 10C, the amount of power it uses is negligible. However, today it’s -1C and the heat pump is drawing nearly 3kW all day to keep the house at 20C. Imported 40kWh from the grid today mostly for heating. Price per kWh is about 27p. Not cheap.<p>It all balances out when the days get longer and sunnier. Can generate 50+ kWh of electricity, which more than covers our usage so we export a fair bit.<p>I set the heat pump to heat water to 55C between 2am to 5am and again between 2pm and 4pm if necessary. We also divert any excess electricity after usage and charging batteries to heating the water tank via immersion heater. Had 4 family member over for Christmas and we didn’t run out of hot water once!<p>Pretty happy with it overall.
I don't doubt that heat pumps are cheaper than gas bottles for a moment, especially in Europe, but it sounds like they also added a bunch of insulation at the same time as installing the heat pump.<p>Anyway, newer heat pump systems are great. I'm low-key hoping the 13 year old gas furnace in my attic kicks the bucket so I can replace it with another of the same system we use to heat/cool the downstairs.
I'd love to know more detail on the insulation as I live in a Victorian stone building. One person says "external walls internally insulated [...] and the loft insulation improved, a process she describes as “very invasive” but worthwhile." Presumably they're stripping off the internal lath-and-plaster from external walls then replacing with insulation-backed board. Maybe the the new room size is smaller meaning any plaster cornicing has to be ripped out/replaced. I can see why she calls it very invasive.
Personally I find draughts to be a huge problem. When it's cold and windy it's especially cold inside. But I don't know how to fix draughts without risking dampness or rot - never found any government guidance on this. It's a huge pain and I am not sure there is an easy "insulate" solution for these old properties.
In New Zealand, heat-pumps are the most common form of heating. Works great, far more cost effective than other forms of electrical heating.<p>We've never really done boilers, previously it was mainly wood fires for heating. Coal used to be widely used, but we've banned burning coal in most residential areas, and woodburners in a lot of residential areas are subject to stringent regulation to improve air quality, we used to have phenomenal smog issues in winter due to temperature inversions and woodfires.<p>My house still has two log-burners, but with our two heat-pumps and decent double glazing, we didn't need to light the fires last year.<p>And the real bonus is that they can run in reverse and cool your house, which is amazing in the hot dry summers we get in my area.
I thought this was a new kind of air-source heat pump without all the problems of existing ones, but no, it's just a heat pump. Inappropriate for many (possibly most) dwellings in the UK, and the government is bribing people to install them.<p>For what it's worth, I think systems like <a href="https://www.tepeo.com/the-zeb" rel="nofollow">https://www.tepeo.com/the-zeb</a> will eventually replace gas in the UK, not ASHPs.<p>Similar technology is being trialled at some army barracks: <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/30/military-trials-cutting-edge-electric-boilers-heat-pumps/" rel="nofollow">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/30/military-trials-...</a>
I was seriously in the market for a heat pump system for the upper floor of my home. The current oil fired furnace system works but oil is expensive and the heat from our pellet stove doesn't reach up to the second level very well.<p>Then I started working at a co-working space that has a heat pump system and the HVAC techs are in here working on it a couple times a year as we wear parkas and hats because it's 10C in the building. Or it's summer time and I'm trying not to sweat on my keyboard.<p>This led me to look more closely into reliability and longevity of these systems and the math just didn't add up, even with very optimistic values for MTBF and expected lifetime.
It is a bit misleading. Insulation is the main cause of lower energy bills. Then, once your losses are at a minimum you just need a bit of a kick to keep the warmth.<p>Any system will do once your energy losses are miniscule, e.g. think of the passive homes.
Heat pumps could actually lead to a net increase in energy usage in northern areas because they can double as air conditioners for cooling in the summer. Normally homes in northern areas don't have AC and you just have to get through the relative short period when its hot enough that it would be nice to have. But with heat pumps, you just switch to AC mode. Also, those periods of hot weather are getting hotter and longer in duration.