A heat pump is a highly efficient, all-electric heating system that moves heat rather than creates it. Instead of burning fuel, it gathers energy from the air outside your home and upgrades it into usable heat for radiators, underfloor heating, and hot water.
Almost think of it not just as a heater, but as a renewable energy device that allows air around your home to become part of your energy supply.
How it works
A heat pump uses a refrigeration cycle, similar to your fridge but in reverse:
The outdoor unit absorbs heat from the air using a refrigerant. There is usable energy outside even in very cold weather.
The refrigerant is compressed, which raises its temperature.
The indoor unit delivers that heat into your home’s heating and hot-water system.
The refrigerant then cools and resets, ready to absorb more heat, repeating the cycle continuously.
Nothing is burned, and the process is extremely efficient.
Why is a heat pump so efficient?
For every 1 unit of electricity a heat pump uses, it can deliver 3 to 4 units of heat. This multiplier effect is what makes it one of the most efficient heating technologies in the world.
This is also why you can consider it like a form of energy generation: you input one unit and get several units back, simply by harvesting the energy already present in the air.
Do heat pumps work in cold weather?
Yes. Modern heat pumps work effectively in sub-zero temperatures, widely used across Scandinavia where winters are harsher than Guernsey’s. Advanced refrigerants, inverter compressors, and smart controls ensure reliable performance all year.
The benefits of combining a heat pump with solar
When paired with solar PV, a heat pump becomes even more transformative:
• Your heating is powered and offset by the sun • Running costs drop dramatically • You reduce or eliminate fossil fuel consumption • Your home becomes far closer to energy independence • Your solar system gains extra value, because a heat pump uses clean electricity efficiently • Lower carbon footprint, often near zero over the year • Higher ZEB (Zero Energy Building) scores, leading to greater energy independence, and potentially useful for future valuations and future policy incentives
Solar provides the electricity, the heat pump multiplies it into several units of heat, and the result is a home that generates much of its own energy, day and night.
Together, they create one of the most powerful clean-energy combinations available to homeowners today.
