GREAT news: according to a new Government report, sales of ground source heat pumps (GSHP) have risen by nearly 150% over the last two years.
The bad news is that despite the increasing amount of awareness and publicity about the technology, the number of GSHP installations in this country still numbers less than 1,000.

According to the report, Monitoring the Sustainability of Buildings, produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government as a progress report to monitor compliance with Part L of the building regs, there were 380 GSHP installations in the UK on November 16th 2004. Two years later, this had risen to just 940 installations. Bearing in mind the likely cost of installing GSHPs, even taking into account any grants, VAT reductions and the potential savings, should we be surprised? And, in any case, just how concerned are the British about energy savings?

The most recent study of public opinion amongst the European States found that on average just under half (48%) of all European citizens claimed that the energy efficiency of home appliances was a major influence in their purchasing decision. Energy efficiency was an influence to some extent with 32% of the European population and only 19% said it was never really taken into account.

When broken down by country, the UK was fifth from bottom of the table. One third of UK residents said that energy efficiency of household appliances was of no real influence in their purchasing decision and only 25% said it was a major influence.

Mind you, either these surveys are not to be trusted or we should hold our hands up to unfair stereotyping of nation states. Believe it or not, the European country whose citizens are most concerned about energy efficiency in household appliances is ...... wait for it....... Italy! Apparently two-thirds (66%) of Italians see energy efficiency as a major purchasing influence, while only 10% do not consider it important.

And the country bottom of the pile? That supposed Scandinavian environmental haven, Sweden where only 22% of the population are greatly influenced by the energy efficiency of domestic appliances.

Neil Everitt

Editor