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8 reasons why renewable heat should be part of your project

Written by Ben Hodges, Renewable Heating Consultant

Modern new house

1. 80% of domestic energy requirements are for heat and hot water. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains why we invest so much money and emotion into our homes. Our desire to be warm and clean uses most of the energy we consume. This means that investing in the right ground or air source heat pump solution to reduce this energy demand is a great investment.

 

2. Home energy costs are rising at an average 17% per year. The energy squeeze on household incomes is not going away. Investing in renewable heating as part of your project construction costs provides a great return on investment. Check out these stats on Heating oil rising 18% over 2 years and LPG rising 50-100% over 2 years .

 

3. Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The current scheme expires in 2021 for new applications. Do not miss this golden opportunity to enjoy tax free cash.Either to help pay for something you were likely to invest in anyway, or stretch that project budget a little further – more information here.

 

4. Create a better living space. Enjoy the luxury feeling of a stable room temperature at any time of the day or night. No more boilers providing intermittent heating that normally results in you either being too warm or too cold. With low running costs of a ground source or air source heat pump – keep warm when you want to, not when you can afford to.

 

5. The easiest time to implement is during the construction phase. Considering your long term heating needs at the design stage and implementing them in a well planned way at the construction phase is the simplest and most cost effective way to a low cost energy future.

 

6. Protect the investment you are making in the construction of your new home. Builders with whom we have worked with over many years and several projects, have anecdotal evidence of this. They report significant differences in the condition of a building where they are heated by a traditional boiler or a ground source or air source heat pump.

 

7. They cannot believe the difference. Homes that are consistently heated with a heat pump still look good as new internally after 5 years. In comparison, intermittent heating via boiler significantly increases the wear and tear of the building fabric, resulting in minor maintenance and repair works starting far earlier in the life of the property.

 

8. Reducing carbon emissions help all our futures. This topic is such an emotive issue that this is intentionally last on the list. 40% of UK carbon emissions are generated from heating our homes. Ground and air source heat pumps have been confirmed by government as a key technology in delivering UK carbon reduction policy (hence the RHI – they are buying carbon savings).