What is a Heat Pump?
There are two types of heat pump:
- Air source heat pumps (ASHP)
- Ground source heat pumps (GSHP)
Both technologies work broadly in the same way: they take ambient heat from the air or ground and convert it into heating energy for your radiators or hot water system.
For every unit (kWh) of grid electricity that goes into your heat pump, you get roughly 3 units of energy out. This is known as the Seasonal Coefficient of Performance, or SCOP. This is the magic of heat pumps.
An air source heat pump, for example, will extract the latent heat from the air outside of your house and, using just 1 kWh of grid electricity, convert that heat into typically 3 units of energy for your radiators or hot water.
The better your home is insulated, the higher the coefficient of performance you obtain, resulting in more heating energy.