Heat Pumps

Despite the vast number of challenges already facing the construction industry, from labour shortages to rising material and energy costs, businesses and individuals alike continue to implement new strategies to reduce their own carbon emissions, with the overall aim of working towards the UK government’s 2050 net zero goal. In particular, ground source heat pumps (GSHP) have emerged as a front-runner in sustainable energy solutions within the last few years.

From sustainably-sourced raw materials, to the rise in green buildings and clean energy solutions, the construction industry – despite heavy criticism for its contribution to environmental degradation – has made considerable progress in the pursuit of sustainability. Whatever the project, both cost control and sustainable practices will remain important

John Rodgman MD of Borehole Solutions

 A bit of extra work is required to lay pipe in the earth for ground source heat pump installations topics – especially when considering the state of the UK’s energy situation. But what is causing more and more developers to switch away from more traditional sources and towards GSHPs?

Know the difference

Air source and ground source heat pumps share a considerable number of characteristics with each other. They both offer an effective, energy efficient way of heating your home by making use of the environment’s natural warmth to produce hot water.

In fact, the main difference is simply where they source this heat from.

As you would expect, air source heat pumps (ASHP) absorb this from the surrounding air, whilst ground source heat pumps tap into sub-surface geothermal reservoirs to strike heat.

Because GSHPs tap into geothermal pockets within the ground, the temperature doesn’t fluctuate –something which gives them a significant advantage over ASHPs. In winter especially – when the air temperature is far colder than that of the earth’s core – ASHPs often suffer from a drop-off in efficiency throughout the colder months. More energy is required to operate the heating systems and monitor the build-up of frozen condensation, something which GSHP avoid entirely.

As such, even on the coldest day of the year, the source temperature for a GSHP can be as much as 15 to 20°C warmer than an ASHP, meaning no unexpected spikes in energy usage throughout the most expensive months of the year.

ASHPs also experience accelerated running costs due to their inability to fully make the most of time-of-use tariffs, as the air temperature is far cooler during off-peak times; it will therefore take a greater quantity of energy to run these units to the same efficiency as it would throughout the