March 27th 2024
The UK are still falling behind on heat pump installations, here’s why
New research has found that the UK has just 412 heat pumps per 1000,000 people, with industry experts claiming limited job prospects are hindering progress.
In an attempt to decarbonise UK housing, the government have set out to install 600,000 heat pumps by 2028. However, this target seems to be becoming more out of reach by the day, as new research from Heatpumps London has revealed that the government have installed 412 per 100,000 people.
Despite being three to four times more efficient than other heating options, such as oil, electricity and gas boilers, there is significant concern over the lack of engineers able to fit them in homes. This problem leads to high installation costs and long wait times.
Previously, it was believed that the increasing rate of heat pump adoption in the UK could create over 50,000 new jobs, but according to research, there are only around 2,000 jobs available in the industry.
Fix Radio, the only UK broadcaster aimed at builders, discovered that 56% of builders say they lack sufficient knowledge on alternatives to traditional gas boilers, with 44% admitting they would not recommend heat pumps due to the awareness of their benefits.
In addition, the broadcaster highlighted that 11% of builders are unaware of available grants like the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which was introduced on 1st April 2022, which is leaving households to believe that having a heat pump would be more expensive than sticking with their gas boiler.
These statistics have become apparent after the radio station held a debate on the rollout of heat pumps with heating engineers, John Cruickshank and Simon Poskett.
‘Many tradespeople are put off by going down the road to MSC because doors just seem to be closing at every chance because nobody knows what’s going on. I say tradespeople should go down the route of renewables as it will be a big part of our heating and hot water,’ John Cruickshank said. ‘It’s not the silver bullet that we’re all looking for, but with the energy crisis and living standards, it’s very difficult.’
John added: ‘I don’t know how the government will get 150,000 heat pump engineers trained in time to fit the 600,000 they want because there is no direction. The government initially said if you have a level two in plumbing and water rigs, you could go for a heat pump, yet it took me 18 months to two years to train in heat pumps.’
‘These are issues we should have been talking about 20 years ago, but we’ve now come to a point where we’re approaching deadlines which keep getting pushed back. The government never seem to consider the people who are actually on the ground who carry out this work.’
In addition, Simon Poskett also remarked that the government need to provide clearer guidelines to ensure as many heat pumps can be installed as possible.
Simon said: ‘The legislation and policy needs a clear direction which we still don’t have. Companies aren’t investing, mainly because of the greener policy being kicked into the long grass.
‘There is a very large workforce out there that is currently doing gas, but the training is needed for heat pumps because they’re a very different beast. We’ve got over 15000 heat geek installers now, we’re right at the start of the journey.’
Image: Jimmy Nilsson Masth