5 reasons the next Prime Minister should make smart, efficient heating an infrastructure priority

How we heat and cool our homes is an increasingly hot topic. With fossil fuel prices expected to remain high for years to come, now is the time for solutions to help British families get off gas heating for the long-term.

Clean, efficient and smart heating solutions have a critical role to play in this mix. Here are five reasons why:

1. Heat pumps boost energy security and lower bills, moving households from volatile fossil fuel markets and onto electricity, which is increasingly sourced from home-grown, clean renewable energy. Efficient heat pumps can slash heating bills and lower the cost of living.
2. Heat pumps are a major growth and export opportunity and can put Global Britain on the map as a clean tech powerhouse. The UK can turn to its boiler manufacturing capability to tap into the booming global market – with the EU targeting 60m installations by 2030.
3. Heat pumps can support a high-skill, high employment economy. Getting on track for heat pump targets will require a significant boost to the number of skilled installers and engineers – presenting opportunities to boost standards and gender diversity in the heating sector.
4. Heat pumps are a super-efficient way to heat our homes. For every 1kW of electricity, they produce 3-4kWh of heat – an efficiency of 300-400%, compared to 90% for a new gas boiler.
5. Heat pumps drive down emissions for environmental conservation. With more and more people concerned about the impacts of a warming planet, clean heat can help reduce the 14% of UK carbon emissions caused by household heating.