A faster rollout of heat pumps could tackle emissions and lower bills
Environmental campaigners from WWF Scotland are calling for a faster rollout of heat pumps in Scotland.
It comes as a new report says the country won’t meet agreed targets for decarbonising heating in homes.
The Scottish government is aiming to remove fossil fuels from heating in more than a million homes by 2030.
It has also pledged that all homes will meet band C in energy performance certificate standards by 2032.
WWF’s report states that a faster rollout of heat pumps could tackle emissions as lower energy bills for the majority of Scottish homes.
The removal of green levies has helped reduce the costs of running heat pumps says the report.
But it says there needs to be further reform of the electricity market where the price is still determined by the most expensive energy source being used, namely gas.
Most households with oil or electric heating would see significant falls in energy bills with a switch to heat pumps, it concludes, though people with gas heating in a modern tenement flat would see costs rise by as much as 23%.
Heat pumps are the quickest solution for domestic heating but they are not cheap, starting at about £12,000 per household - reduced to £4,500 with government grants.
Fabrice Leveque, energy policy manager at WWF Scotland, said: "Our reliance on gas and oil boilers is driving up our energy bills and creating damaging carbon pollution.
"Scotland is a renewable energy powerhouse, and we can harness that to heat our homes using electric heat pumps."
Chris Stark, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee - an independent body which advises governments on policy - says decarbonising home heating is a vital step in meeting climate targets.
He said: "The Scottish government has big ambitions for decarbonising the economy but so far there's been too little action to make these a reality.
"Cleaning up home heating will require significant investment and this research shows that this is achievable and desirable."
