The government has announced a new green tax cut to encourage people across the country to invest in sustainable lifestyles.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in a spring statement that the initiative will use zero-VAT incentives to reward homeowners for installing heat pumps, solar panels and proper insulation.
Heat pumps are becoming increasingly popular in many UK homes as a form of renewable energy, but relatively few people are familiar with the technology.
Heat pumps are a greener alternative to gas boilers and a way to heat homes and buildings.
They work by extracting heat from their surroundings, whether it’s from the ground or the air.
Fortunately for the UK, the technology works well at cryogenic temperatures, producing about three times as much energy as they use.
You can install an air source heat pump outside your home that looks like an air conditioning unit.
For those who prefer to hide their equipment, you can also install a ground source heat pump that runs several meters underground – either deep into the soil or parallel to the ground.
An air source heat pump works like a refrigerator in reverse, using electricity to extract energy from the outside air and then heating it with a compressor.
Ground source heat pumps work in a similar fashion, using meters of high-density pipes to extract energy from the soil.
The main difference between heat pumps and traditional boilers is that these units don’t start quickly, so they work especially well when installed in a well-insulated home with underfloor heating.​​​
This means homeowners will pay zero VAT when installing heat pumps and solar panels for the next five years.
Rishi Sunak claims this will help reduce red tape and help restore wind and water turbines as qualified technologies.