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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

Are heat pumps the future or just a lot of hot air?

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are shown a heat pump demonstrator
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are shown a heat pump by Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Heating the UK’s 28m homes creates almost a fifth of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, so after decades of relying on gas and oil boilers, households will need to break their addiction to fossil fuels if the government hopes to meet its climate targets.

For most homes, the alternative to traditional heating systems is likely to be an electric air source heat pump.

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