Electric Heating

[goldenshoes]

Our architect is encouraging us to fit a ASHP as part of upcoming renovations but we think that it might not work very well since we're in an old house in a cold location. We currently have an oil tank which provides our heating and hot water and are keen to switch to something more environmentally friendly, so instead of the ASHP we're considering going fully electric and fitting an unvented tank for water.

Our reasoning is that if we use a renewable energy company then it must be a good way to comfortably heat your home and be more eco-friendly. But is this actually the case or is the ASHP really that much better for the environment?

The point of the air source pump is that it runs on electricity but is a few times more efficient than a bogstandard electric heater. Still way more expensive than oil but in theory cheaper to run than a resistive electric heaters system.

That said once you look at whole life costs including installation, servicing, and time to replacement the cost gap may be much much less.

Renewable energy is a bit misleading....its only renewable if there is enough wind for the turbines etc...if not, it comes from gas or coal or oil fired plants....so on some days, none of it is actually renewable at all!

Thank you for the replies.

The cost isn't a huge issue as we can get a government loan for the ASHP but I've read that I'll probably still need extra heaters, so it's just whether it really is the most efficient way to heat our house. We're in Scotland up a hill so it will get very cold in winter, and for a few weeks in December the house won't see sun at all!

Good point about renewable energy companies not always being renewable, I hadn't considered that. But again, we're in Scotland and I think we regularly meet targets in that area. I don't really know how that all works though.

Another 'in Scotland' point is that we don't have any incentives other than loans for ASHPs, so it we go ahead and then they bring in a grant in 6 months we'll be a bit miffed!