How do you heat your home?
For decades now the most common form of heating in our homes has been the gas boiler. Great when gas was cheap and no-one worried about sustainability and carbon emissions, but what should you do now? There is a lot to consider when you are thinking of what heating and energy system to heat your home!
The list of heating options is growing, but the most common include:
- heat pumps
- biomass boilers
- electric underfloor heating
- solar heating
- electric boilers
- gas boilers
But how do you compare them and how do you choose how to heat your home?
The cheapest to install is likely to be electric underfloor heating. Deciding on the lowest cost version to run and maintain will depend on your overall heating needs.
However, the government have announced that by 2025, all new homes will be banned from installing gas and oil boilers and will instead be heated by low-carbon alternatives. The ban is part of a UK action plan to reach carbon net zero by 2050. So now is the time to consider future proofing your property.
In the UK, we will need to phase out oil and gas heating systems like boilers to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, replacing them with renewable, low carbon technologies. These systems can help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from households.
In a typical household, most of the energy bought is used to provide heating. So if you want to cut your carbon footprint significantly, you need to look at whether you can fit a low carbon heating system
Low Carbon Heating
Biomass systems burn wood pellets, chips or logs to heat a single room, or to power central heating and hot water boilers. While burning the wood does emit carbon dioxide, it’s at a lower level than coal or oil provided the fuel is sourced locally. Biomass is considered a sustainable option as long as new plants and trees continue to grow in place of those used for fuel.
Heat pumps are becoming popular and developing all the time. Ground source and air source are the two main devices, while hybrid, absorption and water source heat pump are also available. Heat pumps use less fossil fuels than most other systems, so are a more sustainable, low carbon source of heating.
They work by absorbing heat from a source and transferring it to a fluid, which is compressed to increase the temperature further. The heat is typically transferred from the fluid into water, which is then used to provide heating and hot water to your home.
Solar heating systems use solar panels, called collectors, fitted to your roof. These collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water that’s stored in a hot water cylinder.
What is right for me?
Of course, various grants and support mechanisms can dramatically change the relative economics. Actually, it is not really possible to make a final choice without seeing the site and knowing about the overall statistics of the building that needs to be heated. That is where our site surveys can help. Site Surveys
For example, if you already have a gas pipe to the building on site or if there is no access to deliver biomass and the garden won’t accept ground coils or boreholes for a heat pump, then the choice will be limited. If you are in a rural site with no gas, have your own wood supply, then biomass makes a lot of sense.
However I keep coming back to the simple fact that they will all costs less to install, run and have lower emissions if you get the house insulation, air tightness right first and then make sure the heating is installed and set-up properly.
Help and Advice
If you have questions or just need a bit of friendly advice about which type of heating and energy system should you choose for your house? Please get in touch! Call our team on 01923 896550.
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