Government help 'is vital for heat pump support'

Government assistance is necessary for environmentally-friendly heat pumps to take off, a geothermal expert has said.

Director of housing division at Geothermal Internal Stewart Purchase suggested that the cost of buying heat pumps has put many people off installing the devices, which would reduce their fuel bills.

He said: "Part of the package that will make heat pumps successful is down to government funding."

Mr Purchase's comments follow the £6 billion government spending cuts, which have affected the promotion of low-carbon heat pumps.

On May 24th, the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced the closure of the Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP).

The LCBP scheme provided 20,000 grants for the capital and installation of equipment, saving a total of 300,000 tonnes of CO2.

Despite the closure of this scheme, the government have announced details of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which will launch in April 2011.

The RHI will provide financial support for those who use renewable heating as well as promote thermal technologies, biomass boilers and renewable combined heat and power.

Posted by Joseph Hutton