Ecology of heat pump performance: A socio-technical analysis

Abstract

The UK government’s heat strategy is to reduce emissions from buildings “to virtually zero by 2050” through a combination of technologies including heat pumps (HPs). As part of this strategy, it introduced the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme to incentivise the installation of HPs in the residential sector. Using a socio-technical approach and case study method developed by the authors in the field of energy research and building, this paper explores the reasons for variation in performance of HPs supported by this scheme. Twenty-one sites/households were selected for investigation. Owing to limited space, this paper does not seek to present all cases, but instead focuses on key insights from five cases that were originally thought to perform poorly. The findings highlight how the complex ecology of a socio-technical system in determines performance. We will show that system performance emerges from the dynamic interaction of monitoring system, heat pump system configuration and occupants’ heating practices, and heating load factor. Limitations, practical implications, and scope for future research are briefly discussed.