Low-carbon heating technology such as heat pumps and thermal storage is not high on the public radar. However, there are strong government initiatives and ambitious targets to increase the number of heat pumps installed by 600,000 a year by 2028. National Grid is leading a trial (known as EQUINOX) to garner learnings on decarbonising residential heating in a cost-efficient way for customers where early customer insights were needed to inform the trial design.

Accent gathered attitudes on various home heating systems and technologies, including heat pumps, thermal storage, and in-home automation of heating from over 2,000 customers who are currently using a variety of heating solutions. We also asked about willingness to adjust temperatures at home in order to reduce demand on national energy resources (known as energy ‘flexibility’).

“A quarter of people are willing to have extra technology installed to allow their energy provider to control their heating system in order to unlock flexibility.”

There is a significant overlap between people who are likely to install the different types of residential heating low-carbon technologies; this group is likely to have relatively high levels of awareness of heat pump and thermal storage technologies and strong environmental values, too.

The environmental benefits of heat pumps and thermal storage solutions were the most strongly acknowledged benefit, followed by the idea that they are an exciting new technology. Government grants were consistently the factor most likely to encourage uptake. However, upfront cost and ‘complicatedness’ were key barriers for heat pumps and thermal storage systems along with concerns over aesthetics.

Over a quarter of people think their household is suitable for a flexible energy tariff and said they would likely sign up to one in the future. Similarly, a quarter of people are willing to have extra technology installed to allow their energy provider to control their heating system in order to unlock flexibility, with money saving being by far the biggest hook for such flexible tariffs.

See report.