Free heat pump scheme aims to boost confidence in tech

A TRIAL giving heating engineers a free heat pump for their own homes is to be rolled out to thousands of people after it boosted professional support for the tech.

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The “start at home” pilot by innovation agency Nesta to support heating engineers to install their first heat pump in their home found it boosted their technical knowledge, understanding of living with the technology, and confidence in promoting them to customers.

Experts warn large-scale deployment of clean electric-powered heat pumps is key to replacing the widespread use of gas boilers in homes to reduce carbon emissions as part of targets to cut greenhouse gases to “net zero” by 2050.

That means installing around 450,000 heat pumps in existing homes a year by 2030, requiring 38,000 more installers trained and confident to install heat pumps before then, Nesta said.