Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Wise, Freya; Cooper, Adam and Eckert, Claudia
(2024).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/atde240880
Abstract
At present, only around 10% of the heat pumps required to reach our critical 2050 climate goals are being installed in the UK. The government has set ambitious targets to phase out gas boilers by 2035, replacing them with heat pumps. This paper argues that instead of viewing the low carbon heating transition as a simple techno-economic issue, solved by a technology swap, we need a transdisciplinary systems approach to address this complex socio-technical challenge. Drawing on previous research and the literature we identify the current level of heat pump uptake and consider some of the barriers to the low carbon heating transition including technical aspects, installers skill shortages, financial barriers and informational challenges. We find that these barriers are mostly addressed in silos without considering the interrelationship between different aspects. Heat pumps should be considered in the context of a whole house approach to retrofit and barriers need to be overcome to make the technology more attractive to households. In this paper we call for a systemic, transdisciplinary approach to the low carbon heating transition to accelerate uptake: combining an understanding of social, engineering and policy perspectives. Key to this are systems-based methods and transdisciplinary approaches that enable engineering and engineers to be part of the solution. We present the benefits of this approach and suggest some principles for further research.
Plain Language Summary
The current installation of low carbo heating in UK homes is much lower than government targets and at the current level we won't reach our decarbonisation goals. This paper identifies some challenges with current approaches to incentivising heat pump uptake. It also explores many challenges for households wanting to install low carbon heating and particularly heat pumps which considered a key technology.
It argues that current approaches are too focussed solely on finance and technical solutions. It suggests that a more holistic overview is need via a systems approach and one that works across different sectors and disciplines to increase low carbon heating uptake and suggests some ways to do this.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
