Malcolm Farrow from @OFTEC talks to us about hydrotreated vegetable oil and how it can get kerosene burning, off-grid homes to reduce their emissions by reusing cooking oils.

We speak to Bob Beattie where he explains the different types of heat pumps (air to air, air to water and ground source) and provides insights into the efficient performance of heat pumps.

We sat down with Bean Beanland from the Heat Pump Federation and discussed the biggest challenges facing the heat pump industry in the UK, why heat pumps aren't covered by home insurance and whether there will be incentives in place to get heat pumps installed into new builds. An insightful and interesting interview.

@editor   I await my install in a couple of weeks.  I was not aware ASHP's couldn't be covered by home insurance.

@Morgan, it's the emergency home repair policy that didn't cover ours. You might want to check your policy to see if they have heat pump exclusions.

Ian Rippin, CEO of the MCS, explains what the MCS is and how it provides protection to homeowners in the UK. We have a candid conversation about the MCS and the need for a property passport in the UK. 

We also discuss some of the issues facing the MCS and whether there will be enough certified and competent installers to fit the 600,000 heat pumps per year that the UK government is pushing for by 2028, and learn about a new exciting apprentice programme that is going to be rolled out next year.

Posted by: @editor

Ian Rippin, CEO of the MCS, explains what the MCS is and how it provides protection to homeowners in the UK. We have a candid conversation about the MCS and the need for a property passport in the UK. 

We also discuss some of the issues facing the MCS and whether there will be enough certified and competent installers to fit the 600,000 heat pumps per year that the UK government is pushing for by 2028, and learn about a new exciting apprentice programme that is going to be rolled out next year.

 

 

Mars,

Did you forget to ask questions in relation to Sam's situation and why it would appear that builders are allowed to install ASHP's without the requirement for MCS accreditation?

@derek-m, we did ask the question and there wasn’t much that she could do, so we removed this from the edit. I could post the answer here as short video. Ultimately, it came down to consumer protection groups and going down that route, which would be a long process, as Sam discovered.

The MCS offers great protection to homeowners, but only if you use an accredited installer. That’s the biggest takeaway. And we need better legislation to protect new builds. The UK really needs to improve policy, and fast.

Richard Lowes provides some honest insights and views on the UK government's ambitious target of installing over 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, what may help lowering the price of heat pumps and installations.

@editor 

Whilst I agree with many of the points raised, I feel some of the statements could be quite misleading.

Could someone please clarify if it is 600,000 or 900,000 by 2028, not that it makes much difference in that I don't think there is much chance of achieving either figure.

Richard's statement about being on the Octopus Agile tariff and having a direct debit of only £35 per month would imply that his daily energy consumption is of the order of 4 or 5 kWh. Whilst this is possible during the Summer months, I doubt it will be the case in the Winter. At present the Agile tariff for the Yorkshire area is averaging in the region of 30p per unit.

His comment about there being a large surplus of electricity generating capacity would appear to contradict what a close friend, who actually works for National Grid, has been telling me. Whilst there may, in theory, be excess generating capacity from wind and solar, in practice it is not always available when required. Whilst his statement about electricity demand having fallen over recent years is indeed correct, what he failed to mention is that 'available' generating capacity in the form of coal fired and nuclear power generation has been reduced even faster. We are now in the situation where we are not only burning more gas to generate electricity, but are having to fire up the few remaining coal fired power stations to help meet demand.

I think that I mentioned several months ago, that many of my friends staff at National Grid have actually purchased portable generators. There was also a news article recently about possible power cuts in the Winter.

Successive governments can make all sorts of claims of how they are going to reduce carbon emissions, but don't appear to have much idea of how to achieve that goal in practice.

Yesterday I watch a documentary simply named '2040', which I would recommend that people should watch.

We have an interesting conversation with Jez, Head of Renewable Heat at Midsummer Wholesale, covering a wide range of topics from correctly sizing heat pumps, the importance of heat loss calculations and the evolution of refrigerants in heat pumps.

Rob Whitney from Resideo gives us a rundown on smart home controllers (TRVs and thermostats) and how they can make a heat pump central heating system run more efficiently. He also explains how wireless and WiFi features differ, the difference between a conventional TRV and a smart one, and whether geofencing can be effective for heat pump systems.