I have written three books about heat pumps and, after all these years, I remain fascinated by the technology, the engineering and its potential to transform how we heat British homes.
The fourth book required a different approach because the longer I observed everything surrounding the technology, the harder it became to describe politely. Heat pumps are not the joke, but the circus built around them often is.
We have taken a proven heating system, wrapped it in grants, certification, contradictory advice, dubious sales promises, excitable headlines and weak consumer protection, then expressed surprise when homeowners become confused.
A homeowner begins with one perfectly reasonable question: can I replace my boiler with a heat pump?
Within weeks, they may have three quotations describing what appear to be three entirely different houses. Each installer has calculated a different heat loss, selected different equipment and reached a different conclusion about the radiators, pipework and hot water cylinder. Meanwhile, the homeowner is discussing shower duration with a complete stranger and wondering whether certification proves competence or merely confirms that somebody knows how to upload a PDF.
None of this is cheap either. Add the heat pump, radiator upgrades, electrical work, solar panels, battery storage and the technology required to persuade everything to acknowledge one another, and a household may have committed an enormous amount of money to the transition.
When it works well, bravo. When it doesn’t work, which is still far too frequent, the homeowner can find themselves surrounded by installers, manufacturers, certification bodies, consumer codes, warranty providers and grant administrators, all carrying reassuring logos and answering slightly different questions while nobody takes ownership of the cold house in the middle.
That is why I wrote Britain’s Heat Pump Shitshow: How Installing a Heating System Became a National Nervous Breakdown, and after writing, editing and proofing the book, what struck me most was how little needed exaggerating. Put the entire journey in the correct order and much of the absurdity has already been surveyed, designed, installed, commissioned and certified.
The book is for homeowners, competent installers, politicians, policymakers, journalists, media commentators, energy obsessives and anyone curious to see how a sensible heating transition became so unnecessarily complicated. It is particularly relevant to anyone who wants to understand what happens after an installation is botched and the homeowner discovers that getting it corrected can be considerably harder than getting the bloody thing installed.
It is now available to pre-order directly from Renewable Heating Hub for £10.99 with free shipping. Renewable Heating Hub pre-orders will be dispatched on Wednesday, 9 September, five days before the general release.
The Amazon paperback and Kindle edition will be released on Monday, 14 September 2026.
Pre-order your copy below.
