Renewable Energy

Air source heat pumps extract heat energy from the outside air and use it to heat the building. Some air source heat pumps are able to absorb heat from external temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees, also heat pumps produce three or four units of heat for every unit of electricity used.

Heat pumps operate just like fridges in reverse. Instead of extracting heat to make the inside of the fridge cool, they bring heat in from the outside, to make it warm indoors. The warmth created is used to heat the water in the heating system.

Air source heating systems can save money, especially when they are used to replace relatively expensive fuel sources such as coal, electricity, oil or LPG. This makes them a particularly good choice for rural or remote locations where there is no mains gas supply.

By increasing the number of installations, Dale & Valley Homes aims to help reduce the number of people living in fuel poverty. The Government-funded schemes have been match funded up to 50% of the cost of installation projects. Dale and Valley Homes invested £57,000 into their 2008/09 programme and will receive £27,000 grant assistance from the Low Carbon Buildings programme.