Talking heat pumps

[Suff]

WM I used to think the way you did. But I've been following this so long now I know that most of the "impossible" falls into "can't be arsed because it's not worth it" for the vast majority of companies.

Look at motor vehicles. There have been dozens of innovations which could have massively reduced the fuel consumption of vehicle engines. But none of the manufacturers gave a damn about that, so long as they could keep pushing 5% improvement a decade they were fine. Bring in regulations and suddenly a 1.0l petrol engine with a turbo pushing out nearly 80mpg becomes average.

Companies don't do stuff, not because it's not possible, but because they can't see any profit in it. In fact more often than not they will stifle innovation rather than take the uncertainty of a product they have developed to gain a market and sell well to reimburse the development costs and drive future profits. Also to not be undercut by someone else who decides to stop sitting on an innovative design for their old products and rapidly evolve the product set they have. It is a real risk for companies.

With legislation the market is there, without any doubt. Also, with legislation, where are all the gas boiler companies going to put their research funds? Into more gas boilers? Or into innovative solutions which solve the problems for dense housing.

This is my viewpoint now. People will never get the options they need not to emit CO2 because the solutions available to them are fossil fuel biased. Because that is the norm and that is what the companies have invested in. In order to get real change we have to invalidate all that investment in the old solutions and force them to invest in the new solutions.

I'm not ignorant of the challenges. But I believe banning any new gas boiler sales for homes which do not have them today, plus setting a line in the sand for a complete gas boiler moratorium in the future, is the way forward to force heating providers to give the solutions the people of the UK need. Not for today and not for next year, but for 10-15 years from now.