Not enough installations
In its 2021 Progress Report to Parliament, the CCC stated that “despite a small improvement in the rates of heat pump installation, these remain far below the levels that are necessary”.
It noted that annual heat pump installations in homes had risen marginally to 36,000 in 2020, driven mainly by an increase in retrofit installations of just under 23,000.
It is also starting to become clear that retrofitted heat pumps are not living up to householders’ expectations of their heating, and some of those who have had heat pumps installed, who tend to be at the wealthier end of income brackets, are also subsequently having new gas boilers installed to keep their homes cosy.
One of the problems is that heat pumps are being installed to work with existing central heating systems that have wall-mounted radiators. A gas boiler would be expected to heat those radiators to 70-80ºC in order to keep a room at a comfortable 21ºC. Heat pumps deliver water to the radiators normally at no more than 40-50ºC. That’s the sort of water temperature range most people would shower in.
To produce water temperatures of 50°C, the Coefficient of Performance (COP) of a heat pump is approximately three (so for every one unit of electricity used to power the heat pump, it produces three units of heat). As radiators are typically sized for a flow temperature of 71–82ºC, those in most houses would be undersized for use with heatpumps.
To achieve the same level of heating as a gas boiler achieves in existing properties will normally mean improving insulation and increasing the size of radiators or replacing the radiators with underfloor heating or, in smaller properties, air-to-air blowers.
Most people installing heat pumps do not make sufficient provision for increasing insulation and do not replace the radiators. They would not, in many cases, want to increase the wall area taken up by the radiators or the thickness of them in order to achieve the levels of heating they enjoyed with a gas boiler.
Consequently, they find the heating inadequate, leading to the subsequent installation of another source of heating, usually a gas boiler. Not ideal when the aim is to reduce CO2 missions.
Householders who have had heat pumps installed and found them inadequate also tend to talk about it. Word quickly spreads, which is not good news for the government’s 600,000 unit-a-year target for 2028.
The issues of insulation, radiator size, and alternatives such as underfloor heating are not often subjects raised by companies installing heat pumps. They tend to want to install the unit as quickly as possible and get on to the next job. Some even disingenuously advise against having underfloor heating for no other reason than they don’t want to get involved with installing it, they don’t know how to do it, and/or they don’t want to frighten the customer with the extra cost involved.
Ireland commits €8billion
In Ireland, the government announced in February its plans to provide funding of €8billion that is intended to pay for energy upgrades to 500,000 homes by 2030. Heat pumps will play their part.
The commitment is spread over eight years in order to give companies involved in the sector the confidence to invest, expand and create more high quality jobs without fearing that the bottom will suddenly fall out of the energy upgrade market.
Speaking at the launch of what is called the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “Today, the government is committing to support people in making their homes warmer and less expensive to heat, while also tackling our climate change crisis.
“The Irish people responded collectively, and with a sense of purpose, to the pandemic by helping protect the most vulnerable in our society. The climate crisis is just as critical for our children and future generations, as well as people at risk of fuel poverty now.
“This government’s commitment to reaching our climate ambitions is clear, and today is another step along that journey.”
Ireland has already seen the benefits of the multiplier effect of injections of investment in infrastructure from its membership of the European Union and it believes €8billion now will achieve a similar significant multiplier effect, supporting the development of associated supply chains and a transition to a carbon neutral society without anybody being left out in the cold.
Key measures in the Home Energy Upgrade Scheme include grants of up to 50% of the cost of a typical ‘deep retrofit’ for most people, but also free upgrades for those at risk of energy poverty.
There are grants of 80% of the cost of attic and cavity wall insulation to reduce, as a matter of urgency, the country’s energy use – part of the government’s response to the latest shock of rising energy prices.
The Home Energy Upgrade Scheme is also offering a start-to-finish project management service, including access to financing.
Carbon tax funding
The schemes is being administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The increased grant supports and the significant ramping up of free energy upgrades for those at risk of energy poverty is supported by ring-fenced funding from the carbon tax.
This year, €267million has been allocated for SEAI residential and community schemes. This will support about 27,000 home energy upgrades, taking some 8,600 homes (twice as many as last year) up to a Building Energy Rating of B2 (which can involve photovoltaic [solar] panels and heat pumps). B2 is generally considered the benchmark for an excellent performance in a home built before 2006. The budget will also facilitate 4,800 free energy upgrades for those at risk of energy poverty.
