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Misleading government advertising

Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

Last Post by JamesPa 2 years ago

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Mike Patrick

(@mike-patrick)

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Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 173

Topic starter 21/02/2024 12:31 pm

You may have seen a government information advert which appears on TV. I've most recently seen it on Channel 4 catch-up.

It has a link to a website

ENERGY-EFFICIENT-HOME.CAMPAIGN.GOV.UK "https://energy-efficient-home.campaign.gov.uk/"

Energy Efficient Home - Invest To Save On Your Energy Bills

Explore energy efficient heat pumps, solar panels and different insulation options. Take actions now to save money on your energy bills.

which makes the same claims as the advert.

The advert enourages us to adopt energy efficiency measures such as heat pumps, loft insulation, double glazing and so on.

It conflates claims of better energy efficiency for heat pumps, with operating cost savings for other measures. In so doing I think it is misleading in encouraging people to believe that a heat pump will be an operating cost saving measure. I pointed out that EPCs which rate the energy cost of a property, rate ASHPs as Poor.

I think if a private business was to do this it would lay itself open to claims of mis-representation.

I should probably get out more but anyway I've complained about the advert to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). We'll see what is their response.

Mike

Grant Aerona HPID10 10kWh ASHP

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Abernyte

(@abernyte)

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21/02/2024 12:57 pm

Are heat pumps generally rated poor in EPC's in England? It doesn't seem to be the case on mine in 2019 in Scotland.

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JamesPa

(@jamespa)

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21/02/2024 1:59 pm

Does it conflate the two, the bit about heat pumps (reproduced below) talks about energy efficiency not cost savings so far as I read it. I guess you could argue that the title does put all the measures into the same bucket, but then you could also argue that the title reflects the fact that the article itself deals with two different things (ie energy efficiency and cost saving).

It will be interesting to hear what ASA says.

This post was modified 2 years ago 2 times by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

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Derek M

(@derek-m)

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21/02/2024 2:17 pm

@jamespa

That's strange, I did not realise that heat pumps provide our homes with electricity, and not only that, but they also clean the electricity before doing so. I wonder do heat pumps polish the electrons? 😋

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JamesPa

(@jamespa)

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Posts: 2874

21/02/2024 2:34 pm

@derek-m Fair cop (or COP?). That just shows how easy it is to interpret something in a way that one expects not read what it actually says. This is misleading!

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

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