With the new Heat and Buildings Strategy encouraging the use of heat pumps - now is a good time to revisit the IOR paper "Why don't people install heat pumps?" available free here to download.

This paper considers why the annual UK installation rate of heat pumps is relatively low in comparison to other countries and questions the source of 'green' electricity required for a large heat pump fleet.

It covers electrically driven vapour compression air source heat pumps (ASHPs) for domestic and light commercial building sectors, providing on-gas grid and off-gas grid locations are considered, for:

  • domestic hot water (DHW) plus space heating via low pressure hot water (LPHW)
  • domestic hot water (DHW) plus space heating via warm air

This paper focuses on ASHPs, and doesn't include direct heat pump systems, because the number of heat pumps required to replace natural gas boilers and satisfy UK carbon reduction targets is not possible with ground source technology.

 

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About the IOR

23 Apr 2026

The Institute of Refrigeration is the professional engineering body for all individuals working in RACHP. Find out more about the IOR here. 

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23 Apr 2026

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23 Apr 2026

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Podcast Marking the 10th Anniversary of WiRACHP

23 Jun 2026

The IOR Women in RACHP (WiRACHP) Network is 10 years old! To mark this occasion, the WiRACHP Network invited Sam Buckell and Miriam Rodway to talk about the highlights of the last 10 years.

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IOR Celebrates World Refrigeration Day 2026

18 Jun 2026

The IOR will be marking World Refrigeration Day with two newly released podcasts and a webinar. World Refrigeration Day is an international awareness campaign established to raise the profile of the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump sector and focuses attention on the significant role that the industry and its technology play in modern life and society.

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