Support for ground source heating

GSHPs use buried pipes to extract heat from the ground. This is usually used to warm water for radiators or underfloor heating systems. It can also be used to pre-heat water before it goes into a more conventional boiler.

Although the UK is lagging behind other European countries such as Sweden, where the technology is commonplace, the market is rapidly expanding - doubling in the last year alone.

A new report from the Environment Agency claims that the idea could produce a third of the UK’s renewable heat by 2020.

In the UK there are an estimated 8,000 ground source heat pumps, but the report suggests that if the government introduces sufficient support for them, this could increase to more than a million.

The Renewable Heat Incentive - which will be introduced in 2012 and will pay homeowners and businesses a guaranteed price for generating renewable heat - will be the most important factor in determining how much the GSHP industry grows.