It’s UK Heat Pump Week – and EIA finds natural refrigerant models are now readily available!

It is widely acknowledged that the rapid roll-out of heat pumps is a key part of the UK’s net zero strategy, with a typical heat pump reducing emissions by up to 66-80 per cent compared to heating options reliant on fossil fuels.

However, not all heat pumps are born equal. Some contain climate-polluting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a type of F-gas which often has global warming potentials thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide.

This week is Heat Pump Week in the UK and, as the Government plans to ramp up heat pump installations to meet its net-zero targets, it’s important that we get this right on the first attempt and avoid locking in emissions that would come if we were to install super-polluting HFC systems.

It’s also important that we install the most energy-efficient systems to aid in the decarbonisation of the energy grid.

The good news is that EIA has found many of the UK’s largest heat pump suppliers are already offering highly efficient climate-friendly natural refrigerant systems, with lower long-term running costs.

Installing a heat pump

Information on these systems can be found on our sustainable cooling database, which contains examples of cooling free from F-gases from around the world. With a global warming potential of less than one, the popularity of propane (R290) in the domestic heat pump sector is growing.

Many of the largest heat pump manufacturers, such as Vaillant, NIBE, Samsung and Viessman, already have propane systems available on the UK market and some of these manufacturers have transitioned their entire self-contained heat pump product lines away from HFCs.

HFC-410A outside air-con units at the 2023 CoP28 climate summit (c) EIA

For those who have comparable HFC and R290 systems available, the research also compared their price and performance. While R290 systems are sometimes more expensive (price differences varied from £116 cheaper to £1,256 more expensive for an R290 system), these units have consistently higher energy efficiency, lower noise levels and higher flow temperatures, meaning they are more suitable to older buildings.

Comparing like-for-like systems produced by Samsung, which both have low noise levels and broadly similar energy efficiency, reveals that the HFC-based systems are between £297 and £861 more expensive than the R290 variants with similar performance metrics.

EIA’s research shows that F-gas-free heat pumps are better for the planet and the consumer, their improved efficiency means lower long-term running costs and no need to top up with increasingly costly HFCs

The UK Government needs to support these key net-zero technologies with financial incentives for natural refrigerants alongside an updated F-gas Regulation which aligns with the EU’s.

The EU’s recently updated F-gas Regulation already sets plans to ban F-gases with a global warming potential greater than or equal to 150 in self-contained (monobloc) systems from 2027 and in smaller split systems from 2029.

With the UK Government due to review its own F-gas Regulation soon, EIA’s findings show that there should be no hesitation in proposing an ambitious HFC phase-out, supported by new equipment bans which align with EU regulations.

CoolTechnologies.org is a tool, published by EIA, that allows consumers and policymakers alike to explore the availability of F-gas-free refrigeration, heating and cooling technologies across different geographies.