New data has revealed that every household could roast around 2,900 turkeys over the 12 days of Christmas with the energy savings they would achieve if they swapped their gas boiler for a heat pump.
The data from Nesta has found that using a heat pump instead of a gas boiler would save an average home 409 kWh through greater efficiency.
Nesta said it is encouraging anyone who is interested in cutting their energy usage over the festive period and beyond, while keeping their home warm, to check out getaheatpump.org.uk for more information about the efficiency of heat pumps.
Daniel Lewis, principal researcher for sustainable future at Nesta, said: “For homeowners looking to be more energy efficient and reduce their Christmas carbon footprint, heat pumps should be their holiday hero.
“Heat pumps are around three times more efficient than gas boilers at heating people’s homes, so anyone using a heat pump to keep warm over the 12 days of Christmas could be saving ovenloads of electricity. Forget two French hens, the home heating energy savings compared to using a gas boiler would be enough to cook almost 3,000 turkeys!”
The charity stated that a crucial factor holding back heat pump adoption is that electricity in the UK is expensive relative to gas, with the worst price ratio in Europe. Ofgem’s energy price cap puts electricity at 24.5p/kWh, which is 3.9 times the price of gas, 6.24p/kWh. According to Nesta, this means that despite the greater energy efficiency of heat pumps and all the energy that would be saved over the 12 days of Christmas, it will still cost £40 in electricity to run a heat pump and £36 in gas to run a gas boiler over that period.
Some heat pump owners can make savings by pairing their appliance with a special tariff that offers lower rates for heat pump use or rewards them for shifting their energy use away from peak times, it noted. For example, Nesta said that one tariff currently on the market offers heat pump users rates of around 15p per kWh, which would make the heating bill in the above example just £25 over the Christmas period.
However, Nesta added that the higher costs of electricity means that for homeowners on standard energy tariffs, Christmas with a heat pump or a gas boiler costs about the same. The charity has called for the government to take steps to ensure the price of electricity comes down both in absolute terms and relative to the price of gas.
Daniel added: “Nesta’s Christmas wish is for cheaper electricity to make the energy savings of heat pumps add up to equivalent savings on energy bills for people using electricity to heat their homes.”