WHAT ARE THE CHOICES FOR HEATING OUR HOMES

When you look at what is on the market as far as energy production systems are concerned, you will find quite a large range which can be summarised as two radically different ways of obtaining heat.

• Either, you draw on our planet's limited non-renewable fossil fuel reserves; this is the case with gas, fuel oil or electricity (whether it is produced by combustion or in nuclear power stations)
  
  
• Or you collect some of the energy that arrives on earth every day, in the garden, i.e. inexhaustible energy because it is constantly being renewed, - in the air, - in the ground.

This renewable energy can be extracted by the use of heat pumps. Heat pumps use electricity, which is a natural energy, it's true, but it is not another form of electric heating. Heat pumps are not electric boilers. And anyway, why hesitate to use electricity, especially if it is a small amount,if you can draw on a source of energy that is available free of charge and is renewable? In fact this electricity then becomes a tool in the same way because you are using it to operate household appliances around the home.

We must keep in mind that in the long term, we have greater control of electric energy and its costs whereas we all know that we have no control over the supply of fossil fuels and that their costs could go up from one day to the next. We can hope to make the UK more and more independent from the point of view of its electricity supplies: electricity produced from water, wind, photovoltaic etc.

Heat pumps fall into two categories; air source and ground source: that's geothermal.

In our opinion, the geothermal solution is the only solution that brings with it:

• No inconvenience or risk to your home,
• No constraints involved with supply or maintenance,
• A completely controlled heating budget which is significantly lower! (up to 75% saving),
• Total respect for the environment and your neighbours,

What is a heat pump?

The principle is simple: it entails using an extremely well-known thermodynamic system which has proven itself for more than a century and which is used all over the place today,in every kitchen, it's the refrigerator.

There are several ways of collecting the heat from the ground: these include a deep probe, the water table or a probe buried 80 - 100 cm down. The shallow probe is perfect for taking advantage of the daily amounts of sunshine, wind and rain and is not affected by the thermal stress of the air. This is the solution most often used because it does not involve any extra construction costs and is installed in almost any garden as long as it has an area that is almost the same as the heated floor in your house.

We are Agents for SOFATH, one of the main European manufacturers of Heat Pumps and Ground Source heating systems. For further infomation please visit sofath.com or geothermie.net.