UK government hires ‘nudge unit’ to help dispel heat pump myths
UK government hires ‘nudge unit’ to help dispel heat pump myths
Behaviour experts say misinformation shared in media and by other stakeholders is impeding uptake
Experts from a “nudge unit” have been hired to help ministers fight misinformation about heat pumps to try to encourage take-up of the devices.
The appliances run on electricity instead of gas and are regarded as a way of decarbonising homes at scale. A target of installing 600,000 a year by 2028 is part of a drive to achieve Britain’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
However, misinformation shared in the media and by “other stakeholders” is impeding uptake, according to a £100,000 government contract awarded to the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), which specialises in ideas to “nudge” the public into taking different actions.
The contract awarded to BIT contains details of a previously unpublished research by the Department for Energy.
It found that individuals who self-reported that they knew a fair amount or a lot about heat pumps were less likely to want one. However, people who correctly answered a simple knowledge question about heat pumps were more likely to want one.
BIT is finalising a large survey of householders’ views and coverage in the media that will be used in planning how the government will push back against misinformation.
“Information about heat pumps is being shared by the media and stakeholders, which may be skewed to negative, incorrect or exaggerated stories of heat pump adoption,” says the contract, which cites examples including claims that the pumps are noisy, cost too much to install and are not reliable and don’t work in older homes.
Articles about heat pumps in the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph were cited in the document, which states that some of these stories “are generally well-founded, such as believing that heat pumps are expensive” but adds that some include incorrect misconceptions, such as believing they might not work well in the cold.
“Online information which is imbalanced or skewed towards incorrect and exaggerated claims could be considered an environment where misinformation is a problem,” it reads.
I know everything I need to know about heat pumps.
I live in a flat. I am literally not allowed to install anything outside for a proper split.
There is no location in my small property where noise would not disturb sleep or the general enjoyment of being here. So even with permission an air source pump is not viable.
I'd need permission to install a ground source unit outside which wouldn't be impossible.
But then it's likely to be got the whole building as that would be the most efficient.
I'm not sharing an energy bill for heating with my neighbours. My consumption is low.
There are millions like me in this country.
What I would install is an electric boiler. Essentially inductive or resistive heat.
Which is half as efficient as a heat pump. But I'd have control of my bill and with the consumption for a single person flat the long term expense of installing and maintaining a heat pump eat into any efficiency savings they have.
The only thing stopping me is gas is cheaper per kW because we're burning gas to make electricity at a ~45% efficiency compared to a 90% efficiency of piping it here to be turned directly into heat.
Cut fossil fuels out of the electricity supply. Then I'll install an electric boiler. Until then I'll burn gas more efficiently here.
Heat pumps work for those with outside space. Those who have luxuries.
Electric cars work for those with driveways. More outside space. More luxury.
I could buy into that luxury soon enough. I will upgrade my property at some point. But it's not going to solve any climate change issues unless they solve the issue for everyone, not just the middle class and upwards.
The government need to stop burning gas for electricity. When they do I'll probably be paying more for energy, but the poorest can use the same infrastructure and be subsidised.
Renewables, grid storage, reasonably priced charging with on street chargers near everyone's homes. We'll all be able to go carbon free.
Heat pumps are part of the solution, but really they're the smallest part. They only offer an efficiency saving over resistive heating. The cost is noise pollution, maintenance cost, space, and complexity.
I don't take the government's climate targets seriously when heat pumps are their main policy.
Pretty much, heat pumps will help but they're a laughably small thing to be focusing on so much.
Unfortunately nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
Articles about heat pumps in the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph were cited in the document, which states that some of these stories “are generally well-founded, such as believing that heat pumps are expensive” but adds that some include incorrect misconceptions, such as believing they might not work well in the cold.
I haven't blocked those two from my newsfeed and the constant drizzle of anti-EV news is enlightening. Makes you wonder whose agenda they are promoting pushing back against important green initiatives.
The world economy has a really scary event ahead of it, and many are doing whatever they can to avoid it. The event is the change from an oil based world economy to an electricity based one. It's scary for a number of reasons.
- A number of industries are based off the drilling, refining, transporting and sale of oil and gas based products. All of those industries become basically worthless. Additionally any manufacture of goods that consume oil based products (e.g. cars) that need to pivot at much cost.
- Electricity generation is much more diverse than oil production. Anywhere between the tropics can generate from the sun with abandon. Costal countries have wind and tidal sources. Mountainous regions can use hydro, volcanic - geothermal. All of this takes power away from the oil producing nations. Nations will become much more self sufficient. The middle east loses much of its importance. Russia is toast. America takes a hit.
- The dollar is the fiat currency of the world because of oil. This no longer needs to be true.
- The loss of trading oil as a commodity will destabilise markets. Electricity is not traded in commodity markets. It's mainly traded in highly regulated closed auctions, or between national bodies.
- Renewables will hit a point where we have large amounts of cheap plentiful energy. This will be deflationary on a global scale. All goods are transported and cheap transportation means prices should go down. The alternative is that gains are taken as profits and would be highly inflationary. Either way - destabilising.
Renewable energy is going to change the world. A lot of (currently) powerful people are terrified.
I'm sure there's still going to be a huge need for oil based products but I agree the world economy is going to see some huge changes to it. Idk what we will replace oil with, if we ever can, plastics make up so much of everything but overall oil use will decline when it's not used as fuel for everything mechanical.
Certainly going to be some interesting times we'll be living through as we march towards the cyberpunk dystopia.
Things, economics now is favour of green. Not just to avoid a future no one wants, but because to be green is cheaper and better, today.
the energy sector and russia frequently are very well aligned
It might take quite a bit of wondering to work out specifically who, but I think you can gather the general gist of whose agenda they're promoting without too much wondering :)
Oh I've got a good general idea but I'd love to know the specifics - are they doing it to be contrarians or because it's a fairly well-accepted Tory press narrative or are think tanks funded by fossil fuel companies giving them "press releases" or "talking points" that a "journalist" then reworks into what passes for an "article"?
Hmmn, the version of England that i live in is filled with cheapskates and incompetence.
I remember the uk govt having to rapidly rewrite a whole section of the the MCS to address heatpumps. due to widespread under sizing, and poor installation / system design. Sure you can get quiet ones, if you pay even more.
The govt and the HP manufactures like to do their CBA on a "best case", "minimum viable spec", herioc assumptions about insulation/remedial work, and minimal retrofit costs. Oh sure they "can be quiet"; but what price was assumed in the CBA? not the "silent" model that costs a few £k more.
Whole new build estates were built with inadequate systems - there's no excuse for not getting the sizing right on such a development as the overhead of an engineer is nothing, but of course they cheaped out; save £5k cost per house. Fuck the buyer ; they can pay for all the rework, and all the immersion heater uptime in the meanwhile.
It is totally reasonable to warn people of cost overruns, poor performance and massive remedial work with heat pump installs in England since inadequate installs and uderspec systems have happened and will continue to happen whenever a customer chooses the midpoint estimate. You need to tell them get at least 5 quotes and expect to pay the second highest or something. And they need to be vigilant that they actually get the output spec that they pay for.
If they tell people these things are "cheap", then many peple will think that means they can take a cheap quote. It's true that they can work, but the system needs to be designed and sized right - and this is likely to mean an awful lot more expense than a gas boiler that peple are used to.
I saw a youtube video where they remediated an inadequate install - they basically doubled the power rating, and installed several extra bits and pieces, must have been at least double the original cost - but they never gave the cost of the new system or the remedial work. This makes me very suspicious they just threw £30+K worth of stuff at the video as an advertising cost.
Re: Paying extra for quiet Heat pumps
Is air conditioning not a thing where you live?
A heatpump is virtually identical to an air conditioner. A heat pump is an air conditioner with a reversing valve that generates no additional noise.
Nobody has aircon in the UK! Hotels and extremely high spec flats only.
Like others have said, you'd only need it for about 1 week per year, so why bother?
Heat pumps definitely have their benefits, I have one myself. I just wonder what comes. Like where I live there was a big push for heat pumps and solar, but then the prices soared. And the rules have changed to make even solar cost more to simply have.