Are GSHPs really environmentally friendly?
Yes. The best way to explain this is to look at the energy ‘in’ versus the energy ‘out’, taking into account the electricity used to power the heat pump’s compressor. Government figures, as detailed in the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), state that for every kilowatt hour of electricity used, 0.42kg of carbon is produced, with gas generating 0.19kg of carbon for the same unit of energy. Compare this with a heat pump achieving a Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of 4.0*, which is realistically achievable with a heat pump supplied by Nu-Heat, and 0.42kg becomes 0.10kg of carbon – considerably less than produced by gas or direct electricity (see equation below). * This is the ratio of units of heat output for each unit of electricity used to drive the compressor and pump for the ground loop. A CoP of 4 means that for every kilowatt of electricity put in, you get 4 kilowatts of energy out in the form of warm water. Put simply, in a well-insulated property Nu-Heat’s ground source heat p
