Why the government wants people to use eco-friendly heat pumps

A heat pump being installed

A new government plan to get homeowners to use heat pumps instead of gas boilers has been announced.

Homeowners will be offered £5,000 from next April to replace their old gas boilers with heat pumps, which they say are more energy efficient and better for the environment.

This incentive is part of the UK government's plan to reduce carbon emissions that come from heating homes and buildings.

But, critics say that £5,000 is not enough money to replace gas boilers with heat pumps, which are expensive and difficult to install.

Many homes in the UK are heated using gas which produces a lot of waste carbon dioxide

Gas Boiler vs Heat Pump: What's the difference?

In the UK, a gas boiler is one of the most common ways to heat a building.

But gas-powered heating is a contributor to pollution, including carbon dioxide emissions.

In fact, heating buildings is responsible for 21% of the UK's carbon emissions.

Heat pumps are powered by electricity, which means they can be greener if the building's electricity provider uses renewable energy like wind or solar power.

They can heat a home by extracting warmth from the air, ground or water.

The government are planning on banning the sale of gas boilers by 2035

What do the government want?

The government have promised to ban the sale of gas boilers by 2035.

And, this is meant to bring them a step closer to their larger aim, which is to cut the UK's carbon emissions by 68% by 2030.

This is why they are trying to encourage homeowners to replace their old boilers with a heat pump, which they say will be better for the environment.

They've offered £5,000 towards the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps, which will cover a maximum of 90,000 new pumps in the UK.

But it's thought the cost of installation could vary from £6,000 up to £18,000 - which is a lot of money for most people.

And as heat pumps are currently an uncommon way to heat buildings in the UK, there aren't many engineers trained to install them at the moment.

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng says heat pumps are a good solution while we wait for more affordable, greener heating technology

What has the reaction been?

Jonny Marshall, senior economist at a group called the Resolution Foundation, said that the initiative was a good start but didn't go far enough.

"The 90,000 heat pumps that this new scheme is expected to fund still falls well short of the 450,000 heat pumps the Climate Change Committee says need to be installed by 2025 in order to keep the UK on track to cut emissions from our homes in half by 2035," he said.

But Business and Energy Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said that we should expect to see more affordable, greener heating technology in the future.

"As the technology improves and costs plummet over the next decade, we expect low-carbon heating systems will become the obvious, affordable choice for consumers," Mr Kwarteng said.

"Through our new grant scheme, we will ensure people are able to choose a more efficient alternative in the meantime."